Out of the Blue
by kinderstalk
Summary: Elaine just wanted to work on her farm, far away from the prying eyes of other people with her dog, Titan. Her three years of peace and quiet are shattered when something lands in her field and seeks shelter in her large barn.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers or any of it's characters or content. I am not and do not intend to make any sort of profit off this story.

Chapter One: Sightings

It was quiet and calm that morning. Then again, it was always quiet and calm at the Risley farmstead during sunrise. Being miles away from everyone and surrounded by thick forest on four sides pretty much guaranteed silence, for the most part. Outsiders looking in would likely remark that said farm seemed desolate and lonely. But for the single person that resided there, it was the perfect setting. Peaceful and away from prying eyes, it was where she felt most comfortable. It gave her time to work with no distractions, but more importantly, it gave her a sense of purpose and control; something she needed, whether she was aware of it or not.

Sunlight filtered through the thin glass of the windows of the cabin. As the sun rose, light poured across the floor and crept up the woodwork. In the upstairs bedroom, the light drifted across the tanned face of a dark haired woman in her mid twenties, who was attempting to get another hour or so of sleep. The light also fell upon the nose of a rust colored, large doberman, who refused to let the poor woman rest. He ignored the sounds of protest from the bed and kept nudging his long nose into her face. The lady sighed and opened her eyes to glare at the dog interrupting her slumber.

"Is this really necessary, Titan?" She rasped. "We really don't need to get up at 5:30 every single morning."

The dog just stared for a moment before letting out a high-pitched whine.

"You don't have to go out for anything yet. You went out at 1 in the morning. Now get out of here!"

A bark, followed by another pitiful whimper was the doberman's only response. He didn't budge.

"That's bullshit. You don't have to piss. Quit lying and go back to bed for a bit!"

Titan was not deterred by his human's annoyed gibberish. Every morning for the past 3 years on the farm, he had gone outside at exactly 6:00 AM. He would wake up, stretch, and then patrol the house for anything suspicious. Once he was done with his investigation it was usually 5:35 AM or so and his human would be up making breakfast and getting ready to go outside. This morning's event was an unusual occurrence for her, and had only happened approximately four times previously. 4 days out of 1,095 days; an anomaly.

Titan, being a doberman of high intelligence, knew what this meant. His beloved Elaine was becoming depressed again. It always seemed to happen around this time of year. If she became too depressed, she would oversleep. If she overslept, she would feel ill. Once she was feeling ill, she would not eat. Not eating lead to starvation, and then death. Therefore, it was his job as her best friend to get her out of bed, to save her life.

Elaine fell back asleep during her pet's moment of reasoning and had no clue what was about to happen. She awoke to the startling feeling of being pulled off her bed, sharp canine teeth pulling at the middle of her nightgown. Only when she hit the floor did she realize what just occurred. Her voice, normally quiet and pleasant to hear, became a loud, thunderous noise that reverberated through the house. All her current outrage was directed to one word.

"**TITAN!"**

With a pleased bark, the offender ran down the stairs.

* * *

After being woken up in such a _delightful_ manner, Elaine eventually found herself outside with her loyal companion. She was less than enthused about being outdoors this early, but Titan seemed pleased that she was out of bed and he was only ten minutes behind his absurd, doberman schedule. He was currently inspecting their usual route for anything that seemed out of place. So far, nothing was amiss.

Elaine took a glance back at the old, but recently updated cabin she lived in. It sat atop a large hill overlooking a vast, well maintained field. There was a very large barn, which at this point could have been considered a small hangar, tucked over to the right in the bottom of the field, right next to the tree line. The grass was green, but cut to a reasonable length. There were two gardens near the house. Both contained herbs and vegetables. The path in back of the cabin led to a small pond. Her ducks were currently playing and creating their usual ruckus in the water. All in all, it was a beautiful piece of property, but the memories associated with it weren't quite as beautiful; this place was seemingly seeded with an underlying sadness.

Elaine's father, Mark Risley, bought the property in his late 40's with his younger wife, Bethany. Two years after the cabin and garage were built, Bethany passed away giving birth to Elaine. Her father was devastated by his loss, but chose to raise Elaine himself. Unfortunately, he was often bitter and resentful towards his daughter, blaming her for taking the life of his wife. Elaine and her dad had a very strained relationship; she never once called him "Dad", but chose to just refer to him by his first name instead. Once in a while, they were able to bond over projects around the farm. By the age of fifteen, she was fixing equipment alongside her father. The locals of the nearby town would bring them vehicles of all sorts to work on and, in some of the more extreme cases, put back together after the teens wrecked them with their foolish shenanigans. In a years time, Elaine was a respected mechanic alongside Mark. What had started out as a bit of a hobby had become a full time job for the pair. This allowed them to make a decent amount of money over the years.

At nineteen years of age, Elaine set off on her own in pursuit of her own happiness. Unable to take the blame of her mother's death, she left the farm. She traveled around to various cities, often picking up work in auto shops. The mechanics were impressed with her skill and dedication, especially considering her age and gender. Female mechanics were not common. Young female mechanics were almost unheard of in some parts of the country.

When she turned 22, she moved to New York and was able to secure a job working in a Toyota-Scion dealership. The supervisor of said dealership, Brent, had originally hired her as a detailer, so he was impressed when she stayed overnight to replace the brake lines and pads on a Corolla, which were worn out to the point of being unsafe. The resident mechanic had attempted to skip out on the vehicle's minor repairs, claiming that the owner was delusional and the car was completely fine. He was absolutely blown away when she changed the head gasket on the same vehicle, which turned out to be moments away from wearing out completely. Brent tested her skill on a couple of other vehicles and was pleased with the result. He ended up pulling some strings to get her certified as a mechanic for Toyota, much to the current mechanic's disdain.

The same year she was certified, she adopted Titan, who was only a year old at the time, but still intimidating enough to be a good deterrent should anyone decide to scope out her apartment for things to steal. Everything appeared to be going well. Her job was wonderful, her dog was a great companion, and she had even made a couple of friends despite being a bit of a recluse.

That summer, Elaine received some terrible news; her father had passed away. He had neglected to call her for over a year. It turned out that he had lung cancer and three brain tumors. Being too stubborn to go to a hospital or even a regular check-up, he died at home in the field on his way to the garage for the day. The farm, the property connected to it, and everything else her father owned was passed down to her according to his wishes on one condition; that she honor her mother's memory and erect a memorial to her on the property. She agreed, packed up Titan and her belongings, and gave her two weeks notice at the dealership. As much as she loved her job, her family's home was more important. She had a statue built of her mother near the house in a clearing in the woods and planted a beautiful flower garden around it, which she still meticulously maintained. The statue, by her father's request, had angelic wings.

The roar of jet engines broke Elaine's train of thought. She and Titan looked up to the sky to spot them. There were three; one a dark blue, one a brilliant red, and one black with purple details. The blue one always seem to be the loudest of the three and Elaine often found her dog cowering behind her whenever it flew over. This seemed to be a normal occurrence; about twice a week they would fly above her farm and scare the hell out of everyone present.

After the first month of dealing with their weekly bullshit, she contacted the closest Air Force base to ask why their pilots were flying so low. When the operator asked her to describe the planes, he laughed at her and hung up at the mention of a black and _purple _jet. As much as it pissed her off to be hung up on, there was nothing she could do further. Still curious though, she went to the local library to look up the jets by color and appearance to see what she could find. In her mind, they had to be archived somewhere, being of such a unique design. What she had uncovered came as a bit of a surprise.

There were indeed three military jets by that color, but they didn't belong to the U.S Military. Or any other country's Air Force, for that matter. The three she had been spotting were alien in origin; Decepticons, to be exact. Elaine had heard of the conflict, saw the stories on the news, but had never expected to actually _see_ one of the robots everyone was so frightened of, let alone three. She was unable to dig up their designations; only a couple news reports that warned people of the jet trine and pleaded with anyone who saw them about to report it immediately so the leader of their opposing faction could be notified.

Optimus Prime. There was a name that nearly every person had heard of at least once if they watched the news at all. Elaine didn't know what to think of him, or his soldiers. She was skeptical, at best. The two factions had brought their war to Earth somehow, and now they were fighting amongst themselves and causing quite a bit of damage. Humans only knew the Autobot's side of the story - no one had bothered to get close enough to any of the Decepticons to hear theirs. It was the reason Elaine preferred to remain neutral about the Autobot-Decepticon conflict. She didn't know enough to pass judgment. They had been fighting for thousands upon thousands of years; she was certain that there had to be atrocities committed by both factions. Nothing was ever black and white, especially when there was a war going on. When the townsfolk asked her what she thought of the whole thing, she usually just shrugged and replied with "I'm not really sure what to think, to tell you the truth."

For those reasons, along with the fact that they seemed to be just enjoying a flight, she left them alone and chose not to report them to any authorities. They had done nothing to her, her town, or farm so she had no reason to interfere with them. Besides, once in awhile, she enjoyed watching them pull off their previously-thought-impossible maneuvers. The red one seemed to lead the whole show. The blue one that made the strange thunderous sound, which was sometimes downright terrifying to hear, followed without much of a stir and looked like a pretty competent, professional flyer. The black and purple jet, however, always managed to do something erratic and weird, sometimes downright _silly_ almost. She always got a good laugh out of watching that one fly around the other two, like an annoying gnat that kept pestering the hell out of them. Usually, the red or blue jet would bank towards the purple one and, after a small chase and a few maneuvers, they'd all fall back into formation once again.

It made her wonder sometimes; if they could all enjoy themselves, were capable of higher reasoning, and even had _fun_ once in awhile, why were they so different from the others? What started the war? What set them apart so much that they had been warring for _thousands_ of years? Elaine wished that at some point in her life, she'd get to ask one of them and maybe get a better answer than the propaganda and biased view the media was giving.


	2. Chapter 2: Shortage

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, its characters, or its content. I am not and do not intend to make any sort of profit off this story.

Chapter Two: Shortage

The elite trine returned to the Nemesis after a brief flight, a bit fatigued, but feeling better than they had in quite some time. Energon was, unfortunately, in short supply nowadays with the war raging. After a semi-successful raid, Starscream had brought his trine out for a flight. As tired as the fliers were, the three of them would slowly go insane being grounded for too long. He was typically able to horde away a supply for the trio for a week at a time, but not without consequences. This allowed them to fly at least once a week, even though seekers should take to the sky _at least_ once every other day. If his actions were found out, he got his aft handed to him and ended up in the medbay for days at a time, sometimes more than a week. In some cases, he had to bribe other mechs to keep their vocalizers quiet about it. He hated some of the things he was forced to do, but it was better than him or his trine starving.

Watching Thundercracker and Skywarp walk down the corridors in the direction of their quarters a bit more slowly than usual, Starscream let out a sigh. As power hungry and arrogant as he was, he still cared about his trinemates. Even if he was unable to show it, he worried for their safety, and right now, their general wellbeing. Their moods had improved significantly after the flight, as all fliers were grounded for a while due to the energon shortage, but they showed signs of exhaustion with every step they took, every maneuver they made. Thundercracker was a bit better at hiding it, but Skywarp was noticeably affected, and now Megatron was starting to take notice as well.

Starscream was worn out as well, but he was trying to pull himself together as best he could. He shouldered some of the blows meant for his trinemates; they shouldn't all have to pay for the mistakes Megatron himself had made. It was times like today that the red seeker seriously doubted his decision to join the Decepticon cause in the first place. After the destruction of their beloved city-state, Vos, it seemed the most logical action. Sentinel Prime had grounded all fliers. Because of this, more seekers and shuttles joined Megatron's cause to fight for the freedom they deserved; the right to fly and live undisturbed or restricted. It then took a turn for the worst. Sentinel, seeing the rising number of fliers join the ranks of the Decepticons, ordered Vos to be senseless attacked. It was an order that resulted in the destruction of the city-state and the loss of many fliers. Mechs, femmes, and even sparklings were offlined in the battle. Far too many were defenseless; simply citizens trying to flee the assault and protect their loved ones from the carnage. Starscream was young, but old enough to remember the cries of the innocent fliers being slaughtered around and below him. It was a major turning point in his life; he went from being a peaceful scientist with the desire to create, to a vengeful soldier overnight with the need to make the ones responsible pay for what they had done. Skywarp and Thundercracker both followed his lead without question. Thundercracker followed out of his own reasons, whatever they were. Skywarp followed wordlessly because he was too young to do otherwise and was left with no one else to turn to after the fall of Vos.

Starscream almost dragged his feet back to his quarters in hopes of getting much needed recharge. _Almost_. He still had pride enough to stand as tall as he could as he walked through the halls of the Nemesis.

* * *

While everyone else had drifted off to sleep, Thundercracker lay awake, wrapped up in his thoughts. He glanced over to the second berth in the room, occupied by Skywarp, who was deep in recharge. The purple and black seeker had all but begged him to allow him to share his quarters. Normally, Thundercracker would've told him to frag off and stop being ridiculous, but something in the younger jet's tone made him reconsider. Shortly after merging the two rooms into one, he found out about his trinemate's night terrors. They had calmed considerably after being in close proximity to his blue trinemate, but 'Warp still suffered from bad memory replays. Whatever he had gone through on Cybertron was enough to scar him permanently. Watching him as he slept made the older of the two's spark ache. Skywarp was much younger than he and Starscream. He deserved to experience life during a peaceful time, not in the middle of a fragging war with no end in sight.

Energon reserves were a bit better this week after a successful raid, but they were still low. It was an act of Primus itself that they were able to make off with as much as they did without Autobot interference. Once said faction showed up though, the tides changed and the Decepticons found themselves fleeing once again. Hook was treating a few minor injuries at first from the battle, but later found himself burdened with a couple of mechs that were damaged badly, not from battle, but from Megatron's rage at losing once again. Thundercracker sighed and shifted a bit. What kind of leader beat his own soldiers? What kind of mech spilled the precious energon of others when it was in such short supply as it was? Most of the mechs on the base were only fueled to 80% at most. Their alloys had grown weaker over time. Running on less energon meant they had to save what little energy they had. Many chose not to come out of their quarters unless they had a work shift that cycle. For the fliers, it was worse. Less fuel meant less time in the air. Seekers had to fly to maintain their sanity and well being. It was in their coding to do so. Being grounded for extended amounts of time was detrimental to their mental and physical health.

There had been a brief period of relief today though. Flying over the mountains and wooded areas Starscream had taken them to had been a welcome escape to the daily grind they had to put up with. Despite the annoyance his trine leader generally caused, Thundercracker was grateful to him for thinking of their well being. It seemed that the red seeker was becoming more and more conscious of the state of their health and present position. The problem wasn't realizing what kind of mess they were in; it had dawned on all three of them some time ago. It was how to get out of it that was the real problem. If they simply left, they'd be marked as deserters and hunted by the Decepticons until they were terminated. Along with desertion, they'd have to come up with a source of fuel. Energon was already difficult to come by and would only be more difficult to obtain on their own with so few of them. Joining the opposing faction was an option, but it was one they were all unsure of. No one really knew what kind of leader their Prime was and they didn't know if it'd be better there on the Ark, or worse. And even if they defected, there was no guarantee the Autobots would even accept them. Their fear and apprehension had forced the fliers to stay on the Nemesis with the rest of the Decepticons. Thundercracker hoped that they could find a way out of this mess, and soon. He was sure that if the three of them stayed here, it would be the death of them. He gave one last glance to Skywarp, who was thankfully recharging peacefully at the moment, before offlining his optics for the night.


	3. Chapter 3: Spare Parts

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, its characters, or its content. I am not making and do not intend to make any profit off this story or its chapters.

Chapter 3: Spare Parts

The sunrise, along with a very persistent canine, woke Elaine about a half an hour earlier than usual. She was close to protesting in a very loud and undignified manner when she groggily realized what day it was. Friday. _Spare parts day. _Time to pick up parts she had ordered from both the auto parts shop and the hardware store in town. After that, she and her loyal, _early-rising_ companion would drive to the next town over and dig through Jerry's scrapyard for anything of use.

She managed to drag herself out of bed and was ready nearly 35 minutes later. Trudging to her old truck, she loaded Titan into the vehicle and set off towards town. The loud grumbling of the engine of the aging vehicle kept her awake and she decided to pass the time by speaking to her dog and playing the _oh-god-don't-let-me-spill-my-coffee-on-myself_ game.

"So, we're going to go into town first and pick up the parts I ordered last week. I only have to stop at the parts shop for a few minutes and then it's off to Jerry's for a couple of hours. You'll get to play with Bella while I'm digging through stuff."

Titan visibly perked up at the mention of Bella. Bella was the center of Titan's world on Fridays. The large female Tibetan Mastiff guarded the scrapyard and doted on her 68 year old owner, Jerry. Weighing in at 110 pounds, she was a great deterrent to would-be thieves and hellraisers. The doberman absolutely adored her, even though she was almost twice his size.

"You know, you should really just ask her out, Titan. I don't know how that works with dogs, but you've got a lot going for you. And you probably want puppies someday. All dogs do. Bella would be an awesome mother." She took another sip of her coffee. "Come to think of it though, you're probably handling it all just fine. I'm pretty socially inept..."

Titan just grumbled at her and looked out the window.

"Fine. I was just trying to help. You don't have to be so irritable, you know."

They spent the rest of the trip in silence; Elaine was trying to stay awake and Titan was staring at the trees by the road, slightly embarrassed by the conversation they just had. Well...as embarrassed as a dog could be anyway.

* * *

Everything had started off well that day, for the most part. Skywarp hadn't missed his work detail and was on time for once. Thundercracker had monitor duty that night, but was reorganizing their shared quarters for the time being and trying to conserve his energy. With the purple and blue seekers occupied, Starscream had some time to work in his lab in peace. For months now, he'd been stealing time whenever he could to work on anything he could busy himself with. It was one of the only places in the base the scientist-turned-warrior felt any sort of peace or familiarity. He continued to examine the screen after analyzing all of the samples he'd collected, becoming increasingly frustrated with his findings. Or lack thereof. There wasn't a single sign of anything resembling natural energon on this planet. He had taken so many samples from so many different sites, he was beginning to lose count of them. His wings lowered in disappointment and he sighed. It was becoming increasingly more difficult to hold off the Autobots and manage to swipe a decent amount of converted energon before being forced to retreat. With the troops weakened from being low on fuel for so long, the chance of success was even lower. And now it was at an all time low for the Decepticons. Megatron's leadership was going to be the death of them all.

"We're slagged! There's no raw energon on this dustball! Not a single scrap!"

He slammed his fists down on his station.

"What was that, Starscream? _None at all_? Despite your reassurances that there _must_ be _something_ of use on this planet?"

The biting voice of his leader startled the seeker as he scrambled to attention.

"Lord Megatron, sir! Forgive me! I didn't notice you there!" The seeker nervously replied, backing toward the lab's exit. "I was just disgruntled, my lord. There has to be something here; I just haven't found anything yet. I'm bound to come across a source of energon soon! Just give me a few more-"

"Give you a few more _what_ exactly? Weeks? _Months_? It's been far too long already, Starscream. You've failed me yet again and wasted precious time!" The tyrant was inches away from him now, reaching toward his neck.

"P-please, my lord!" Starscream scrambled to get away, but was caught by his wing and thrown to the ground. He screeched in pain as the sensitive wing was dented.

"**SILENCE**! I've had quite enough of you and your meaningless drivel! You have brought the Decepticon Army nothing but shame! I have no use for you or your blundering trine of idiots any longer; you've all proven yourselves worthless to me!"

The flier could see that the tyrant truly meant it this time when he looked into his optics. Whether it was out of madness or just rage, he knew that if he and his trine stayed at the base any longer, they would be offlined at Megatron's servo, or the servos of the other Decepticons. Their leader had finally snapped, so to speak. By the looks of this whole situation, he had planned the whole thing in advance and hoped to take Starscream off guard. Sending a quick, frantic message to Skywarp and Thundercracker, he fled.

Megatron roared and lunged at him, knocking over much of the lab's equipment in the process and setting off several potentially harmful chemical reactions. Thankfully, Starscream was the quicker of the two mechs and managed to escape into the hallway. A split second later, a flash of light appeared and he was grabbed by a mech of the same build, but slightly smaller than him.

"Gotcha Screamer!"

Skywarp warped the two away from the dangerous scene and outside of the base where they met Thundercracker on land. They immediately took flight and attempted to get as far away from the conflict as possible.

"Are you alright, Starscream?"

"I'm _fine_, Thundercracker."

"You don't look fine..."

"Just shut up and fly, you morons!"

Thundercracker silenced his worries and followed after Starscream, Skywarp gliding beside him. Truth be told, he was in the worst shape out of the three. The larger mech had been giving more energon to Skywarp as of late out of worry for the youngest member of their trine. He was slowly succumbing to exhaustion at the worst possible moment, not to mention he had sustained a few damages while fleeing the base.

"TC? You don't look so good..." Skywarp noticed the blue jet's decrease in speed.

"I'm alright, 'Warp. Just follow Starscream. Keep going. I'll keep up." He replied. His voice was quieter than usual.

He tried to ignore the warnings flashing across his HUD; he was at 65% fuel. Shutdown to conserve energy was a possibility at this point. Staying in the air was taking most of his strength. They were quite far from the base at this point, having flown as quickly as they could. They had warped a couple of times to put an even greater distance between them and the Nemesis, but had stopped when Skywarp could no longer expel excess energy on warping. The fact that he was able to do so at all was impressive, but it was most likely due to the extra energon TC had been sneaking him.

Starscream recognized the area they were in immediately; it was the same place he took them on their weekly flights, far out of the watch of the other Decepticons. They often had to use Skywarp's special ability to even get there, but it was well worth it.

Thundercracker slowly started to descend in altitude. Starscream and Skywarp were immediately attentive towards him.

"Thundercracker, what is the fragging problem? What are you doing?" Starscream screeched.

"I...can't stay up. At 46% fuel. I'm going to go into stasis lock soon..."

"TC, just hold out a little longer!" Skywarp whined back. "We have to get to a safe spot to land. Then you can rest."

Thundercracker had no strength left and kept descending, picking up speed on the way down. Starscream and Skywarp banked and tried to catch him. He was halfway to the ground when the trine leader and the purple seeker both grabbed ahold of him and started to slow him down.

"Thundercracker, you have to transform. You can't land like this! You'll damage us all!" Starscream was all but screaming at him now.

It took the last of the large blue seeker's strength to transform in the air before he went into stasis lock. Starscream and Skywarp were able to get a better hold on him and proceeded to lower him to the field below. When they finally got him to the ground, they set him down gently. Starscream began to inspect him for injuries while Skywarp looked around to see where they ended up.

"Screamer, this is the farm we fly by every week."

"_Great_ observation, 'Warp. How's that supposed to help either of us right now?"

With that remark, it started to rain. Starscream groaned; did Primus really hate him that much?

"We have to get Thundercracker out of the rain. His armor is cracked in one spot and one of his lines is leaking." Starscream said.

Skywarp looked at their surroundings before turning to his trine leader.

"Star...we could put him in that garage over there. It's a really big building. I bet all three of us could fit in it if it isn't full of stuff."

"For once, you've come up with a halfway decent idea. Let's get him over there first, then we'll see whether or not the building needs clearing out."

With that, they both hefted Thundercracker up and supported his weight as best they could. They had him over to the barn in about a minute before setting him against the building. Starscream all but tore the door off to get inside. The wood splintered against the force he used.

"There's some sort of red tractor in here. That's the only thing taking up any considerable space. Help me push it out of here so we can get TC in." Starscream ordered.

It took them a few pushes, but the tractor rolled out of the barn and into the field without any considerable damage. The two seekers picked up their fallen friend and half-carried, half-dragged him into the shelter. Leaning him against the wall, they found a couple of lights, turned them on, and thought about their next course of action.

"Starscream, what are we going to do?"

"We'll patch him up the best we can right now, but he needs a medic."

"But we don't have a medic anymore..."

"As the fleshlings would put it, _no shit_, Skywarp."

The two seekers began to look around for supplies. Starscream had a small medical kit in his subspace that would take care of some of the damage, but he needed materials to patch the wound with.

"Skywarp, go inspect the metal on that tractor. Tear off any sheets that don't look that dirty. Make sure there's no peeling paint or rust on them. Take the hydraulic lines off it too. We'll need them to patch a section of line that Thundercracker damaged when he was getting off of the Nemesis." Starscream gave the instructions calmly, now focused on the task at hand.

"Okay. What if the lines have leftover fluid in them?"

"They'll need to be flushed and dried. There should be a hose around here somewhere. It'll probably be small, but do your best."

Skywarp went out and got to work while Starscream cleaned the blue seeker up and got him ready for repairs. This was a nightmare of a situation. They were stranded on a small farm, miles away from any help, and they had no fuel. Worse yet, if they couldn't get Thundercracker patched in time and refueled to a certain level, he would offline permanently. Starscream sighed and fought the urge to break down. They were all running on low at this point, but the situation at hand kept he and Skywarp going. They couldn't lose their trinemate. They had to find a way out of this mess. Losing Thundercracker would destroy both of them.

* * *

After the rain had gotten the best of them, Elaine loaded up the parts and covered them so she and Titan could go home for the night. They had made several good finds that day, but it was Jerry that made the most interesting discovery. He found two twisted machines at the end of his property that had just been dropped amongst the scrap there. The old man said that it looked like they 'fell out of the damn sky'. Elaine agreed to take a look and after about 45 minutes of inspecting the mangled wreck, said she couldn't figure out what the hell they were looking at either. She told him they sort of resembled fighter jets after finding a couple of wings, but the wreck was so twisted, she couldn't tell.

Jerry sent her home that day with several salvageable parts from the pile the machines were in, all things she had never seen before in her entire life. They were completely alien to her. Along with the parts, he said he drained gallons upon gallons of a really odd fuel from some of the lines on the machines. After figuring out that it ate through most containers, he ended up putting it in a shitload of 3.5 gallon Pyrex solution bottles.

"Where the hell did you even get these, Jerry? And how are the bottles still intact?" Elaine asked, puzzled. "It looks like lab equipment."

The only man just grinned and winked. He helped her secure and load up an entire covered trailer full of the bottles of unknown fuel.

"Jerry, why are you giving me this stuff? And why did you save it? No one's ever seen this crap and the pile of weird parts kind of corroborate the whole 'alien' theory we talked about earlier. Shouldn't we call the authorities and have them look at it?"

"Well, first of all, it could be expensive, so I didn't want to waste it...but it could also be radioactive or somethin', which is why I'm letting ya have it. I don't want it sittin' around. And I'm the only authority around my yard. I don't want a bunch of government creeps pokin their noses around here, diggin through my stuff. You call 'em to your farm if you'd like, but leave me out of it. They ain't nothin but trouble. I'd rather have you look at the stuff and figure it out. Yer smarter than the rest of 'em. You'll come up with somethin'."

Elaine sighed. Well, that's how she ended up with a trailer load of very strange pink liquid and was now driving at 25 mph down her bumpy road, trying not to break or spill any of the bottles. And there were certainly plenty of them. It would take her forever to unload both the truck and trailer. She would likely just back the trailer into the barn out of the rain and unload it tomorrow. Where she would store it and what she would do with it was something she couldn't figure out.

The dark haired woman turned the last corner and pulled up her driveway. She was about to turn the GMC toward the barn when she saw something out of place. Her tractor was sitting outside of the barn, in shambles. Metal was ripped off its sides in sheets and she could see, even from a distance, that parts and pieces were on the ground around it. The lights in her barn were also on. Someone was down there. Or _something_. Whatever it was, it had to be a big son of a bitch to rip metal off a machine that size. The tractor was a Massey Ferguson MR 8690; needless to say, it wasn't a small piece of equipment. For Elaine to take it apart and fix it, it usually took a quite a few tools and sometimes an extra hand to get the job done. Titan looked into the field and whined, then began to growl and bark at the building on the other end of the property.

"Titan, I'm going to go get the shotgun. You stay here until I get back. Don't go down there without me." She said quietly.

When Titan flattened his ears against his head and growled, but stayed in the truck, Elaine knew that whatever was down there was going to pose a problem. Titan was never hesitant when it came to the safety of their home, but the big dog was cowering in the truck and making no move to come out anytime soon.

"Stay." She repeated, and made her way up to the cabin, leaving the truck door open in case Titan had to flee.

She opened the door to her home and reached to the right, grabbing the gun and making her way back outside. She had shells in the truck, but the shotgun was already loaded. It was a 12 gauge Mossberg 500 that her father bought her for her 15th birthday. Elaine silently thanked him now. She always kept it clean and practiced with it, but had thankfully never had to seriously use it over the years.

She slowly began making her way to the barn. Titan fell into step beside her, going silent other than the occasional growl. The rain kept pouring down on her and the doberman as they made their way across the field.

* * *

Skywarp perked up at the sound of a door.

"Starscream, did you hear that?"

"For the last time Skywarp, no, I did not! Now try to get some rest. We need to conserve what strength we have so we can find fuel when this fragging rain stops."

"But I heard a noise...Maybe it's the human that lives here."

"...You are trying my patience! Please, 'Warp. Just settle down. It's been a rough cycle."

It was then that Skywarp really looked at their trine leader. Starscream was exhausted. He had fixed Thundercracker to the best of his ability, but the day's events had taken their toll on him. He was sitting by Thundercracker, leaned up against the adjacent wall. His once brilliant red paint was faded a bit and his optics were duller than normal.

"I'm sorry, Starscream..."

"It's alright, Skywarp. I know you're worried. We'll be alright."

Skywarp was about to speak again, but was interrupted when he heard something shift the smaller door behind them. He turned to see a dark haired human woman with gray eyes, probably in her mid 20's holding a firearm in her arms. In a split second, the gun was pointed right at his face. At this point, Starscream had also noticed the small female and her now growling animal companion.

Elaine's eyes were a bit wide as she attempted to unsuccessfully stare down her _visitors_. She had the gun aimed at the smallest one's head while the red one looked on. The blue one looked like he was unconscious. 30 feet tall metal robots? Yeah, shooting them probably wasn't going to help...

"You know...ripping someone's tractor apart and fucking up their building isn't exactly a nice way to get to know them."

And that was the line that got her involved in a situation much bigger than she could ever imagine.


	4. Chapter 4: Refueling

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, its characters, or any of its content. I am not making any money off this story or its chapters.

A/N: Thank you all so much for the follows, favorites, and reviews! I never expected this to be viewed so much, let alone followed or favorited!

Chapter 4: Refueling

Elaine sipped at her coffee and stared at the giant metal...things...sitting in her barn. After a lot of screaming, pleading, and a couple of fired shotgun shells, they had all agreed to sit down and calmly talk about the situation. Starscream glared down at the small woman and tried not to think about the small, stinging hole in his hand where she'd shot at him. It didn't do much damage, but Primus, did it ever sting! He was sure she had more shells in that primitive weapon and he had no desire to anger her again and have to weld a bunch of tiny injuries. Skywarp, somehow, managed to avoid all the rounds altogether and was sitting beside Thundercracker, subtly leaning a little close to the large blue flier. Titan, for a reason unfathomable to her, was sitting at Thundercracker's feet, watching everything intently with his ears back. It surprised Elaine that the dog even got close to one of the mechs. He had shown nothing short of fear and aggression when they had discovered the three of them.

"So let me get this straight..." Elaine began. "Your boss tried to kill you, so you flew away. You landed in my field after your friend passed out in the sky and proceeded to take cover in my barn, then _destroyed_ my tractor to use for spare parts. Am I getting this so far or have I missed something?"

"You're still upset about that thing?" Skywarp muttered.

"Yes, I'm still upset about that _thing_. That _thing_ is a beautiful Massey Ferguson and the average cost for a new one of that particular model is about **300,000 goddamn dollars**. So yeah...I'm a little _upset_. I can fix it, but the parts aren't going to be cheap and, in case you haven't noticed, **it's an absolute mess!**" Her voice went from quiet to loud in a matter of seconds.

Titan started growling at the cybertronians again.

"Human, calm down." Starscream started. His processor was aching terribly.

"Elaine." She interrupted him.

"What?"

"My name is Elaine. Not human, not fleshbag, not squishy. You're staying in my building. Mind your manners."

"You shot me! Where are your manners?! Is this how you treat all of your guests?!"

"You trespassed and scared the fuck out of me. I had a right to shoot you. And it hardly even hurt you. Look how much bigger you are than me, for chrissake!"

"Guys...please stop yelling..." Skywarp cut in.

Elaine and Starscream looked his way. The purple seeker was quietly sitting with his fallen friend, face turned downward, and looking very much upset. At this point, despite the damage that had been done to her barn and her equipment, Elaine felt awful for him. He was clearly the youngest of the three and seemed to be suffering the most emotional trauma out of everyone present. Even at his impressive size, his optics and expression made him look like a kicked puppy. The damage to the blue one was obvious. Whatever they had been through, it hadn't been pleasant at all.

"Well...I can fix it...I can fix anything, really. Buy a brand new one that looks just like it if that doesn't work...They make 'em everyday." She muttered and looked at Starscream again.

Starscream sighed and relaxed a bit. Screaming wasn't going to get them anywhere, and if they wanted parts and fuel, not to mention keeping their whereabouts a secret from both factions, they'd have to cooperate with the woman that owned the property. He looked over to Elaine, who was gazing at him with an upset expression on her face. Was that pity he saw in her eyes? Compassion? That was something that might work to their advantage if he played his cards right.

"_Elaine_," He began. "Do you have any source of fuel here? Anything we could convert and use would be ideal. It'd get Thundercracker up and moving faster. He was so low on fuel when we flew out of the base, he went into stasis lock."

"So he's basically starving to death? That's awful! What the hell kind of place did you live in?" She shook her head. "Yeah. I've got gasoline in one large tank for the machines here. There's kerosene in a tank by the house for the emergency furnace. It's been sitting for awhile now, so I have no clue if it's any good for your kind. If you don't mind my asking, what do you mean by _convert_?"

"We cannot drink the fuel in it's raw form without becoming ill. Doing so might work in an emergency, but it also has the potential to clog our tanks with contaminants and offline us anyway. It has to be converted to Energon, which is what our bodies use for sustenance." He carefully explained. "I have been able to convert your human fuels to our fuel with a chemical process. Thankfully, I've been keeping the necessary equipment with me to do so, or we'd be fragged right now."

Elaine nodded. "Which one would you like?"

"Preferably, the gasoline. Even after it's converted, kerosene smells and tastes disgusting."

"Well, it is a pretty foul smelling form of fuel, I'll agree. I can shut off and disconnect the tank from the pump, then bring it down here on a trailer. My truck might have a bit of a tough time with it, but it'll move it." She looked into his optics. "Wait here and I'll get it. I don't need you guys walking around in the middle of the night. You might step on something expensive."

She got up from her seat and grabbed her keys. When she was halfway out the door, she looked behind her.

"Titan...are you staying or going, big guy?"

Titan just let out a bark and a whine, looking up at the blue seeker, then back at her.

"Well, there's nothing you can do, but it's nice of you to watch him. Good boy."

He let out a bark and stayed seated, his ever watchful eyes keeping track of everything. It was his job to keep an eye on this place and the intruders. If they tried something, he could trip them or at least alert Elaine in time. The doberman looked up at Thundercracker once again. This one, whatever he was, was in bad shape. He could smell something off about him; he was sure that the massive machine was sick or hurt. He would stay in this spot beside him until he woke up, just in case he was more aggressive than his companions. His dear Elaine could not be hurt by any of these beings. He would not allow it.

Elaine walked out of the barn and headed up the field towards the house. Starscream glanced down at the small, furry creature sitting by his comrade's pede. The dog gave him a look that clearly said 'I know what you're up to' and growled at him.

"Oh please. You're not the least bit intimidating."

The doberman snarled at him and bared his teeth.

"You know, Screamer, if he were any bigger, he'd look a lot like Ravage. His teeth look pretty sharp..."

"He's a canine. They don't get big like Ravage on this planet."

"Do you think his teeth can go through metal?"

"No, you dumbaft! They'd break off if he bit into something that hard! Didn't you study anything about this planet? You've certainly been on it long enough!"

"That's your department. You're the one fascinated with organics."

"I'm not _fascinated_ with organics! I was one of Cybertron's best scientists! You don't get that far by not studying things!"

"Whatever...geek."

"What was that?!"

Titan grumbled. On second thought, these idiots were harmless if they were just going to fight amongst themselves. He jumped at the sound of something clanging off the purple one. The red one apparently threw a small tool at him and was yelling obscenities quite loudly. Well, it was all well and good if they were just going to argue with each other like a couple of dimwits, but it was something altogether different now that they were bringing his owner's tools into their silly conflict. He knew how much it upset her to have her things broken.

The doberman sauntered over to the loud, screechy one that he liked the least and glared up at him. If this one wanted to be mean, fine. He would show him that he could be pretty mean too.

Starscream froze when he felt something warm and wet on his leg. He glanced down just as the rust colored, furry dog walked out of the barn, a proud bounce in his step. Skywarp started laughing.

"That...That wretched little slagger just leaked fluids all over me!" He screeched in disbelief. "Stop laughing, Primus damn you! Skywarp! It's. Not. Funny!"

His purple friend kept laughing at him as Starscream frantically looked around for something to clean himself with.

"Stop giggling over there like a dumbaft and help me find something to wipe the piss off with!"

If anything, that statement just made Skywarp laugh harder.

* * *

Elaine heard shouting from the barn and shook her head. At least she was miles away from everyone and it would hopefully go unnoticed by the locals. Most meant well, but damn were they nosy.

She had managed to get the truck detached from the trailer with the weird pink shit in it and moved it down to the fuel tank with a slight bigger trailer now attached to the back. The pump was disconnected shortly afterward, and she used her old, but still running forklift to load the tank onto the trailer. It strained the forklift and she could see the back end of the truck sagging a little bit, but she only had to move it a short distance without tipping it. Once she got the tank secure and strapped down, she hopped in the truck and backed it down to the barn doorway. It was still raining out, and when everything was said and done, she was soaked.

Hopping out of her truck, she walked through the now open sliding door that was very much out of alignment and broken in a couple spots.

"So I've got the fuel tank he-" She stopped for a moment, looking at the scene before her. "Um, Starscream...may I ask why you're wiping your leg with my tarp?"

The red mech looked at her, visibly aggravated and offended.

"Your wonderful little _pet_ leaked fluids on me!"

"He leaked fluids on you?...Oh! He peed on you!"

"Yes, he **peed** on me! You organics and your habits are disgusting!"

Elaine sighed and walked over to one side of the barn. She pulled out a bottle of Meguiar's Gold Class from the shelf after looking through the soap section. She had only met the red mech hours ago, but she figured he wouldn't appreciate the cheap shit she used on the farm equipment. After grabbing a bucket, she filled it with some water and the soap, then took one of her good washing mitts and a towel off the same shelf.

Starscream glared over at Skywarp, who had stopped giggling, but still had that obnoxious smirk on his face. He looked back down, and was surprised to see Elaine standing by his leg, holding a bucket of liquid and towels.

"What are you doing?" He screeched.

"You know, my ears are a little sensitive. Must you screech so loud?"

"That's how he got his name." Skywarp said, still smirking.

"Shut up, you aft!"

"Knock it off, you two." Elaine grumbled. "I'm going to wash your leg off and dry it."

"I don't want your organic hands on me!"

"Oh, then you'd rather rust and have discolored paint? Urine isn't exactly nice to certain finishes."

Starscream let a gust of air out of his intakes, but remained quiet after that. To be honest, it was rather pleasant to have someone washing him, even if it was a tiny human, but he would never admit that outloud.

Elaine finished washing him, rinsed his leg the best she could, and dried him off. She set the bucket and accompanying supplies over to the side of the barn she got them from.

Starscream looked over at Thundercracker. His armor wasn't graying at all, and he wasn't leaking anymore energon, but he knew the large mech was in worse shape that he appeared to be. Skywarp dropped his cheerful expression when he looked back at TC. They were foolish to be arguing amongst themselves and worrying about trivial things like their paint at a time like this.

"The fuel is right on the trailer just outside the doorway. You two are much larger than I am, so I'll let you unload it. I don't think my forklift is up to the task again."

The two mechs looked back at Elaine. She stepped aside when they stood up and got to work. Skywarp and Starscream had the tank unloaded and safely inside the barn in a fraction of the time it took her to load it up. She stood and watched them work, amazed at how graceful and fluid their movements were despite their massive size. Starscream's movements were a bit more refined, but Skywarp was by no means awkward as he moved about.

The conversion process took about 64 minutes. Starscream was doing some sort of scan on the finished fuel.

"Looks like it worked well. It's not the best grade, but it'll have to do for now. We'll need to give it to Thundercracker first, 'Warp. He needs it the most. There might not be too much left over after that." The red seeker told his comrade.

Skywarps tanks made a gurgling sound, but he nodded. He sat back down next to Thundercracker, exhausted and almost ready to slip into recharge. He forced himself to stay awake.

Elaine watched as Starscream took a clear line with a sharp end on one end. He put one end into the tank and opened up Thundercracker's armor near his shoulder. He pierced his friend's internal line and watched closely as the fuel began to flow from the tank and into the blue mech's body. The young woman's eyes widened. The fuel was pink, and looked so much like what she had an abundance of in the glass bottles of the other trailer. She wouldn't disturb Starscream while he was working, but she would surely share Jerry's discovery afterward.

"This metal is holding up to our fuel just fine. It eats through most of the containers on this planet."

"Well, it's galvanized. There's a protective layer of zinc on the metal. The zinc won't hurt him, will it?" Elaine asked.

"No. It's too small an amount to be dangerous to him even if it does react with the energon. It's one of the minerals on this planet that is relatively harmless to us." Starscream explained.

"Human's are sensitive I guess. Too much zinc is bad for us, and so is too little. It's a micronutrient for humans."

"I know. I've been studying your planet for a while now. It'd all be more interesting if we weren't in the middle of this fragging war."

Skywarp watched the two of them talk to each other. They were being civil, which was a far better scenario than that of them yelling at one another. Starscream had an abrasive personality and he could be irritating as hell nowadays, but he wasn't always that way. Whenever science came into play, or exploration, he seemed a bit calmer. The purple flyer longed to see an end to the war so they could have a home again; so his trinemates could go back to being happy and at peace with everything. Instead, they were bringing their problems to someone else's planet and destroying it much like they had their own. There were a few neutral settlements here and there, and some Decepticon and Autobot outposts scattered across Cybertron's vast landscape, but it was a shell of what it used to be. Skywarp wasn't usually one to think deeply about things; that changed during one of the raids the Decepticons made on a Gas Storage Plant. The Autobots showed up to stop them and attempted to protect the humans working at the plant. Before he had retreated and warped away, Skywarp caught a glimpse of one of the humans on the ground, holding another who appeared to have gone offline in a horrifying manner. The woman was screaming, clutching the man to her chest, and crying in despair. She had the same look on her face that Skywarp's adoptive carrier had on hers as she held his foster creator in her arms when he was offlined in the battle that destroyed Vos. The femme had offlined herself flying into battle against the invading Autobots in one last attempt to avenge her sparkmate's death. He had lost both his caregivers that day.

Thundercracker's frame started to hum just a little bit louder, Elaine noticed.

"His body is accepting the fuel just fine. He's at 76% now. As much as I'd like to get him to an optimum level, we need some of this fuel for ourselves. He should come back online in about 6 Earth hours." Starscream assessed Thundercracker's condition.

Starscream slid the tank to Skywarp after removing the line and replacing it with another, who began to drink as soon as it was passed to him. He stopped after a little while and passed it back, his systems getting used to the converted fuel.

"Primus, Screamer. This stuff tastes funny."

"It's better than nothing, 'Warp. Stop complaining."

Starscream had his share and Elaine turned and busied herself with organizing a workbench, not wanting to stare at them while they...drank? Ate? She wasn't sure what it was called.

The empty fuel tank was hefted up and placed outside the barn by Starscream, who came back in and sat down afterward, watching Thundercracker. Skywarp must've fell into recharge against the wall, because his optics were dim and he was too quiet to have been awake.

Elaine noticed a difference automatically. Starscream's eyes were a brighter red, glowing a bit more than they were. His armor even seemed to gain a little bit of luster. Skywarp's armor also looked much better. She supposed that being malnourished really took a toll on them, just like it would any other creature.

"You're soaked."

"Pardon me?"

"You're soaking wet. Human's get sick exposed to rain for too long."

"I suppose you're right. I'll go to the house for a while. Is there anything else you need?"

"Is there any source of heat in this building? We're not as susceptible to low temperature as your kind are, but Thundercracker is recovering. He will have a harder time keeping his core temperature up while he's trying to heal."

"I have a couple large space heaters." She flipped a switch on the wall. "They're electric, so you don't have to worry about running out of fuel for them. Keep them on as long as you'd like."

"That will be acceptable."

Elaine grinned and walked to her cabin. That, she assumed, was as close to a 'thank you' as she was going to get. Titan was on the doorstep, soaking wet and glaring at her when she stepped onto the porch.

"What? I didn't tell you to run in the rain, you jackass."

She opened the door and let him in first, then followed. Kicking her boots off, she searched around for a towel and some dry clothing. Her heart was pounding in her chest; it had been one hell of a day and she was still wound up about it. She definitely needed a few hours sleep before she went back out to deal with her _guests_. She fixed Titan with a stern glare.

"If you wake me this time, there will be hell to pay."

He blinked and yawned loudly at her. She shook her head and climbed the stairs, shutting off the downstairs lights and hoping to get a decent amount of rest, though she doubted that would happen.


	5. Chapter 5: Recovery

Chapter 5: Recovery

Upon waking that day, Elaine realized with a headache that yesterday's bizarre occurrences were not a product of some strange dream, likely induced by sleep deprivation. Which meant that there were gigantic metallic aliens in her barn. Three of them. Groaning, she rolled out of bed and started to prepare for the likely exhausting day ahead. Titan had already wandered up the stairs and barked upon seeing her wake up.

"Yeah, I know this threw off your schedule, but I'm tired. I don't need any shit from you today. We both had a rough night."

The dog let out an exasperated scoff, as close to a scoff as a dog could get anyway, and walked back down the stairs.

Elaine decided on skipping breakfast in favor of some strong coffee. It was unlikely she'd be able to keep anything down anyway with how nervous she was. Although Starscream and Skywarp had done nothing to harm her as of yet, she had read the various articles concerning Decepticons and their openly hostile view of human beings. Needless to say, it kept her on her toes at all times. She didn't carry the shotgun anymore, but she'd be damned if she would be caught without her Glock, now tucked neatly under her jacket on her right side. Though it probably wouldn't do much, she might be able to take one of their 'eyes' out and make a run for it. To make matters worse, she was meeting Thundercracker today, provided he had woken up. Despite the neutral, non-threatening behavior the other two displayed, she was downright sick to her stomach about their large friend waking up.

By the time she and Titan arrived at the barn, Starscream was already out front walking around the property. He seemed to have gained a bit of momentum after fueling up the day before, and his optics looked much brighter than they had been the previous night.

"Human, -" He began.

"_Elaine_." She growled. Her coffee had not yet kicked in. She was, as she so delicately put it, in no mood for anyone's bullshit this morning.

"Elaine. I detected a small amount of already filtered energon coming from the trailer over there. Is there anything you'd like to share with me? I'd hate to assume you were hiding something from us." His voice grew lower in pitch, his tone accusatory.

Titan growled at him and took a couple steps forward, putting himself between the large mech and his owner.

"I planned on telling you about that after you were done working on your friend." Elaine tried to hide her unease. "Obviously, I was downright exhausted after dealing with last nights _unexpected events_. I have an acquaintance who owns a scrapyard. He found a wreck at the far end of his lot that was leaking the fluid. Not knowing what it was, he saved it in some glass containers he had. They're sitting in the trailer that was attached to the truck when I arrived home last night. I still don't know why he gave it to me; he's weird like that. If he finds something out of the ordinary, he brings it to me hoping I can find out what it is."

Starscream nodded his helm and thought for a moment. Her heart rate had gone up, but there were no indications that she was lying to him. Elaine, despite her annoyance with their presence, had been a good host to three very unwelcome guests. He'd never outright thank her, but he was hesitant to cause her any harm. _She_ should be thanking _him _though, for not stepping on her as of yet, but she had a stubborn air about her and he doubted that would ever happen.

"Could you describe the wreckage? Any colors or details you can remember would be helpful."

"I saw some blue in there. A lot like your friend's color, only darker. And yellow, but by the time we were done working in the yard, a majority of the color had...faded, I guess. Most of it was gray when I left. I swore I spotted a couple nose cones in there, but I couldn't be sure. The wreck itself was about the size of a few jets going down in one spot. It was a really odd find for a scrapyard; any planes or jets are usually dealt with by our military. You wouldn't find one in a junkyard unless something illegal was going on, much less more than one." She replied.

If Starscream could have paled, he would have. Elaine swore she saw a look of shock and horror on his face as she relayed what she had seen. It frightened her to see this giant so disturbed; if something could scare him, massive and intimidating as he was, what could it possibly do to her or other people in the area?

* * *

The red seeker was troubled, for lack of a better word. Dirge, Thrust, and Ramjet had gone missing before Megatron had set his sights on offlining the elite trine. While Starscream didn't want to think that he had ordered his own mechs to be slaughtered, he couldn't be sure anymore when it came to his ex-leader's behavior. The former gladiator was slowly losing his mind; his plans had become more erratic and irresponsible and his treatment of the soldiers under his command had become more cruel and uncaring. What disturbed him most was the irrationality of the decisions the tyrant was making; by offlining or attempting to offline his flyers, what was he hoping to gain? He would lose one of the only advantages the Decepticon's had over the Autobots; superiority in the air.

The only mech who was mostly exempt from the harsh conduct was Soundwave and his cassettes, but even they were beginning to come to terms with the situation at hand. Many of the Decepticons had stayed out of fear, not loyalty. If they could've defected, they would have, but there was no guarantee that the Autobots would take them in. The aggressive frontliners of the opposing faction, mainly those like Sunstreaker, harbored especially hostile attitudes toward the 'cons, and would be far from welcoming toward them if they chose to go that route. Despite the rumors of the kind leader, there was also no guarantee that Optimus wasn't also a complete psychopath. It was unlikely, as many Decepticons described being treated well as prisoners, but one never knew. Starscream never judged a mech by their appearance and public displays; it was what went on when no one was looking that was far more important.

"Whether or not you intended to, the fuel you drained was from offlined seekers. The colors you described match those of a mech designated Dirge. His trine, three seekers total, went missing before we were forced out of our base. I suspect our leader had something to do with this as well, though why he's eliminating his fliers is beyond me." Starscream spoke. "The fact that you even saw his coloration meant that he was alive when you took the leaking energon; the external armor fading to gray signified his death."

Elaine's mouth was slightly agape as she processed the information she was just given. It hit her like a ton of bricks. Disturbed was a mild way of putting how she felt. She looked back up at Starscream, tears almost forming in her eyes. _Almost_. She didn't cry in front of people; her father had been dead set against that when she was young, and it was still fresh in her mind.

"I'm so sorry, Starscream." She replied softly. "I had no idea he was alive, or what he even was when we were loading up the fuel. If I did, I would have done anything to help…Did we...did we kill him when we took the energon?..."

"No. Without a medic's help, he would have offlined anyway. There was no way one would have gotten to him in time to make a difference. Without his trine stabilizing him, he would have likely offlined even after being repaired, or gone insane without his trine mates." Starscream answered her.

The seeker had no intention of making her feel any better, but he wouldn't lie to her either and make her feel worse.

"The extra energon will help get Thundercracker to a better state faster. It'll get Skywarp and I running at optimum levels again if there's enough to go around. Harvesting the fuel may have bought us more time. You've proven very useful; no need to feel bad about making use of something when the owner is gone."

Starscream began walking back to the barn to check on his trine mates. Elaine stood in the field for a few moments, letting it all sink in before following him. She came to a conclusion in a matter of minutes; if their previous leader was killing them off, perhaps their aggressive reactions to humanity had been a matter of necessity to appear strong in front of a heartless tyrant, rather than out of spite. Starscream, despite his reputation and previous actions, may not be the monster everyone made him out to be; she had seen a range of emotions from him, albeit limited, since his arrival. If he could feel remorse for his comrades and take care of friends when they were injured, maybe he wasn't as awful as everyone said he was on the news or in conversation. If she were faced with the same situation, she wasn't sure how much differently she would have acted to save her own ass.

When Starscream entered the building, Skywarp was sitting beside Thundercracker, talking to him and checking him over for what seemed like the 100th time in less than an hour. Thundercracker seemed to be doing ten times better than he was in the early hours of the morning; his optics were brighter and the coloration of his outer armor was regaining it's normal luster. When the two mechs noticed Starscream's present, along with that of two small organics, they ceased their conversation and turned their attention to their trine leader.

"Thundercracker, this is the human who owns the building we've been staying in. Beside her is her filthy canine companion who is very lucky to be alive."

The blue mech looked down at the two and Elaine visibly shivered a bit. She wasn't sure why, but his gaze was a bit more intense and analytical than that of the other two. At the very least, he was calm, but she knew nothing about him other than that. Deciding to speak up, she looked directly into the red orbs of the machine in front of her.

"Thundercracker, it's nice to meet you. I'm Elaine, and the _filthy creature_ Starscream spoke of is my _surprisingly clean_ dog. His name is Titan."

Starscream scoffed at her and Titan grunted at him in reply. In Titan's honest opinion, his actions were justified and he was surprised that no one had pissed on the screechy one sooner. His attitude was horrendous and his manners were lacking. The doberman had seen jittery chihuahuas with more social decency. To top it off, his voice hurt the ears of those around him; how could someone go through life talking like that? It sounded like someone shoved a bird in a blender.

"Thank you for your hospitality."

The young woman almost jumped at the sound of his voice. _Thunder_cracker was a fitting name for him; the deep pitch he had spoken to her in was enough to leave her speechless. What floored her more was the fact that he had thanked her; Starscream was too proud to and Skywarp was...Skywarp.

"You're...quite welcome." She softly replied.

"Starscream, what is this red patch on my side?"

Skywarp groaned and cut in before the red mech could answer Thundercracker's question.

"Don't get anyone started on where it came from! Elaine will get mad again and shoot 'Screamer in the hand _again_ for breaking her...thing."

The larger flier looked confused. Elaine sighed.

"It came off of my tractor. My once-beautiful, magnificent, now-ruined machine. That needs to be replaced at some point because my truck will not pull all the things people ask me to fix for them into this barn without being torn in half."

"See? Told you so! You shouldn't have asked!" Skywarp yelled.

"Is it particularly difficult to get a new one?" Starscream asked her.

"It's expensive. Fixing this one would be ideal, but...parts are pricey too."

"Well, can't you steal one? Or the parts off one? Other humans must have them in an area like this."

"Starscream, are you serious?" Elaine was flabbergasted at this point. "For as smart as you are, that's a pretty damn stupid idea. How the fuck am I supposed to steal something that big without someone noticing? They'll arrest me! You can't just steal things; it doesn't work that way around here!"

Starscream just made a dismissive motion with his hand, choosing not to answer the raging woman next to his foot. Thundercracker watched the two, still confused by the entire situation, but slightly amused at the small human yelling at their trine leader. Titan walked slightly closer to the offensive, screechy mech with his ears folded back.

"Don't you even _think_ about it, you vile little organic! Get away from me!" Starscream screeched.

Titan growled and walked back to Elaine.

"Titan, please behave yourself. I don't want to wash his foot off again. I can't afford the wax and you know it. That stuff is expensive."

Starscream visibly shuddered at the thought of that disgusting quadruped urinating on his leg again. He couldn't understand what possessed Elaine to keep the thing around. Thundercracker's voice cut through the conversation.

"What's our next move, Starscream? We can't just stay here forever."

"I'm not sure. We need to take shelter here until something is figured out." He replied. "There's no secure place around that could be considered a suitable place to stay. Remaining neutral isn't going to work; we will be hunted by both factions."

"We can't go back to the other Decepticon's anymore, can we 'Screamer?" Skywarp asked quietly. He was upset again, and no one could blame him a bit.

"No, Skywarp." Starscream cycled more air through his vents. "Megatron would attempt to get rid of us again. I also have more unsettling news."

The two seekers waited for another bomb to drop, so to speak. The entire situation was bad enough already.

"Dirge, Ramjet, and Thrust went missing before Megatron went on a rampage and attempted to destroy us. I'm relatively certain they've been found, offlined, in a scrapyard nearby." Starscream broke the news. "Elaine and the yard's owner stumbled upon the wreckage of their trine and gathered the leaking energon because they were curious as to what it was. They were already in a critical state and likely wouldn't have been able to survive even with the help of a decent medic."

Skywarp looked terrified. Thundercracker moved closer to him in an effort to provide some form of comfort. The large blue seeker was also troubled by the news, but was taking it the best out of the three, mainly due to his calm demeanor.

"So, it's a possibility that Megatron is killing off his seekers. But, why? That would leave him at a huge disadvantage." Thundercracker tried to make sense of everything, but couldn't reach a logical conclusion.

"His actions have been illogical since his processor started going haywire, Thundercracker. I suppose he has some twisted reasoning behind it."

"What about the Autobots?" Skywarp cut in.

"What about them, 'Warp?" The large blue seeker began. "I doubt they'll be welcoming of the three of us, least of all Starscream."

"It's one of the best options out of all of them."

Skywarp and TC stared at Starscream.

"Think about it. We have knowledge that would be of use to them; the layout, location, and access codes to the Nemesis. I had higher security clearance than most of the mechs on that ship. The Autobots have the best medic, more energon than we do, and could potentially provide a safe place for us to stay. Even if we were kept as prisoners, we'd be in a better position there than we would be if Megatron found us. Optimus may not welcome us with open arms, but he's not Sentinel; he won't outright offline us without good reason to. Every Decepticon who's been a prisoner of the Autobots came back with more energon and in better shape than they were in when they left."

While Starscream had a good point, it did nothing to put Skywarp at ease. Thundercracker, was skeptical, at best.

"We will stay here for another night and seek out a way to contact the Autobots tomorrow."

Elaine's voice startled Starscream.

"Don't I get a say in all of this?"

"...Did you have anything useful to contribute?"

"Not really. Just got sick of being quiet. It's awkward standing there with nothing to say."

Starscream shook his helm and walked back out of the barn. Elaine glanced at the two remaining cybertronians. Thundercracker was mulling everything over, while Skywarp just looked more worried than before. She felt sorry for the youngest one; he wasn't taking this very well.

"Hey, Skywarp?"

The black and purple mech turned his attention to the young woman standing near his leg.

"Would you like me to get some wash and wax together? You guys look like you've seen better days."

"Are you calling us dirty?"

"Absolutely."

Skywarp grinned at her.

"That'd be great! TC's a mess!"

"'Warp!" Thundercracker was offended. "It's not like you look any better."

"I _always_ look better."

She laughed and went to get supplies for the two of them. On her way towards the barn door, she glanced out and looked at Starscream. He was staring at the sky, thoughtful expression on his face.

Elaine sighed. After learning how awful their situation was, she wished she could do more to help them. Even though it was going to cost her a fortune to replace all the fuel and repair her tractor, she didn't mind as much when she thought about what kind of spot they were in. She didn't have nearly as many worries; after her father passed away, he left her enough money to pay the bills for years to come. The equipment was already at the farm, so she hadn't needed to buy anything major. She still made decent enough money to live on when she was repairing various things for the locals, so she didn't have to delve into much of her savings or inheritance. All in all, her troubles were second to none. She would take her lonely life on the quiet farmland any day over what these jets were going through. For now, she'd do her best to offer any assistance she could provide and try to keep Skywarp in good spirits. She hoped the Autobots wouldn't be too hard on them when they did seek them out; it was a war, after all. Wrong had been committed on both sides. Nothing was ever just black or white.


	6. Chapter 6: An Uninvited Guest

I do not own Transformers or any of its content. I am making no money off this story or any of its chapters, nor do I intend to.

A/N: Finally got another chapter up! Yay! A few things about this chapter itself; there is some strong language. Also, no offense was intended toward anyone of any faith/religion. It's just my warped, twisted sense of humor, I suppose.

Well, enough of that! Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 6: An Uninvited Guest

Elaine spent the next day trying to immerse herself in relatively normal activities to make her feel a bit better about her strange predicament. Just because there were huge robots in the barn, didn't necessarily mean she couldn't take some time for her own needs. Starscream had not made any move to find her, nor did his two trine mates, so she assumed they weren't in need of her help at the moment.

Laundry was the first thing on the list; she had an overabundance of filthy, gas and oil stained clothing and a shortage of nice, clean garments to wear. Luckily, she managed to pull together a shirt and jeans that were decent enough for the remainder of the day. She lifted a garish, ugly fluorescent yellow shirt from the heap of shirts in her living room. As soon as she brought it up to her face, she cringed and let out a yell.

"Titan! Why? Why would you do this? This is why I can't have nice things!" She raged.

Titan just scoffed at her from the other room. Nice? Hardly. That was the ugliest outer covering in the house. Fluorescent yellow was not an appropriate color to wear with her complexion; it made her look sickly and weak. On the upside, that was the last unsightly shirt to be dealt with on the entire property. His work in the clothing department was done; he'd have to move on to the ugly furniture if she didn't replace a couple of those stupid looking chairs soon. And the mismatched end tables? They would go shortly after…

Elaine continued with the laundry after throwing the shirt with the offending odor away, muttering the entire time about dogs pissing on things they weren't supposed to and ways to possibly re-home said animals. She hoped she didn't get any calls to tow or fix anything, although the past couple of days had been mercifully quiet. The only event on her calendar this week was putting new tires on her friend's Chevy Avalanche. She was grateful that it was only tires this time; that vehicle was notorious for being a pain in the ass for no apparent reason. Things would go horribly, horribly wrong with it at the worst time, and in the wierdest way. Elaine begged her friend, Serah, to get rid of it and find something else to drive, but the stubborn woman always refused. She loved her truck and would likely drive it until it was irreparable. Hopefully, the gregarious woman would stay away for a while. Serah was the last person Elaine needed to visit at a time like this. Luckily, she called a majority of the time before she stopped in, so Elaine wasn't all too worried about any unexpected guests. She went about her chores and attempted to have a decent, normal day.

"Titan! Get the fuck away from my recliner!"

* * *

Serah Calder was trying to have a good day. Really, really trying. And if it weren't for all the other idiots she had run into along the way, she might have succeeded. But, sadly, every moron in the town seemed to be out and about today, so she was out of luck. All she wanted to do was run her errands, pick up her groceries, and go the hell home. Every task she attempted to complete was met with some sort of delay or aggravation. At the moment, she was trying to get her smokes at the local gas station. There was a line; almost all the way out the front door. Because some _asshat_ had to pay for a _bag of chips_ with a _credit card_. And for some ungodly reason, it wasn't being accepted so the man was having a fit. Obviously, he wasn't from around here. People around here just didn't use silly things like credit cards. The man was lucky they even started accepting them out here in the middle of absofuckinglutely nowhere. Serah shook her head and tried not to cause a public disturbance. She would have no trouble attracting attention to herself if she did, but today she didn't want to make a scene.

Calder was a tall woman, about 6'2, with a muscular build. She had dark red hair, bright blue eyes, and skin that was dark tan from working out outside so much. She was intimidating to some people, and she knew it. Her attitude and intolerance for others didn't help her socialize much either. Currently, she was glaring at a woman who was standing at the entrance of the gas station, off to the side, spewing nonsense and holding up a sign with a cross on it. The man behind Serah, another local whom she actually got along with, was glaring at the same woman. Religion wasn't ever a problem in their small town, and despite their small population and backwoods attitude, most people were very accepting. The locals had no problem with it and most of them attended a church of some sort. People of multiple faiths had settled down here. This, however, was a ridiculous, almost daily occurrence that everyone of every faith had come to hate.

"Praise Jesus!" The woman shouted. "You won't be saved without Jesus! You need to start believing in Jesus to be saved! Jesus will always be there for you!"

"Jesus." The local behind Serah groaned.

"Yeah, you ain't kidding." Serah answered.

"Would it be so awful if we just...ran her out of town or something? She's here every day."

"Nah." Serah chuckled. "Jesus will save her."

The man started laughing.

Serah sighed and lit up another cigarette. She was going to finish her entire pack of smokes and have to buy two by the time this crap ended. A thought occurred to her while she was waiting in line; she hadn't seen Elaine in a couple of weeks. She needed to get her tires replaced anyway, but stopping by just to visit someone sane for a couple of hours didn't sound so bad either. Besides, she wanted to check on her friend and make sure she was okay; the dark haired, quiet woman had been a little more quiet than usual, and Serah knew that it was a bad time of year for her.

The man at the counter insisted that the cashier call the bank. The poor, nervous teenager eyed the crowd warily and picked up the phone. Serah and the other customers lost what little patience they had left.

"JESUS CHRIST!"

The crazy woman perked right up.

"That's the spirit, everyone!"

* * *

Starscream was out in the field, feeling the warmth of the sun on his wings. His wingmates were equally happy to be out of the confined space of the barn now that Thundercracker was up and moving around steadily. The trine leader had been trying to let them enjoy what little peace they had while making some sort of plan. It wasn't often that the seekers were able to relax a bit.

The three had agreed that contacting the Autobots at some point was their best option, but they would need to do it discreetly and from an anonymous location over a secure link. There was always the possibility that the faction, however soft-sparked they seemed, could prove hostile, and Starscream didn't want to take a chance of endangering them all. Recent events, mainly the offlining of the other seeker trine, had made him tense and cautious. He didn't know who to trust other than the small woman they had met a couple of days ago, and her reasons for helping them were unfathomable, as they had wrecked her equipment and brought chaos into her seemingly peaceful life.

The red seeker glanced overhead at the passing clouds in the sky. He then looked behind him to see Thundercracker sitting on a boulder, conversing with Skywarp. Well, not so much conversing; scolding was a better word. The purple seeker had already managed to find some form of trouble and it wasn't even that late in the day yet. They'd have to explain to Elaine why there were suds all over the barn floor and her tools. She wasn't kidding when she said 'a little bit of that soap goes a long way'.

Starscream looked to the sky once again. Seeing the wind move the cloud formations was soothing to him. His wings itched slightly, but they couldn't risk taking a flight and had to stay grounded for now; the wind across them would have to do and he hoped the breeze would stick around for a while. As he watched the sky, a thought occurred to him. Skyfire was with the Autobots, acting as a neutral and presumably working in the labs on the Ark. He still had his ex-partner's old comm frequency and it was a heavily secured one due to the nature of their conversations. If it still worked, he might be able to speak to the shuttle before resorting to speaking to the Prime himself. It was a risky idea; they had not parted on good terms. Skyfire was gentle though, and reasonable. If Starscream explained exactly what happened the day he rescued his friend from the ice, he might be able to get through to the large mech. It was better to talk to someone he was familiar with rather than risk getting his aft handed to him by the Autobot commander and the frontline soldiers.

A loud, angry voice jarred him from his thought process.

"Titan! Get back here! I loved that chair more than you! Dammit, I will replace you! You can easily be replaced!"

Apparently, Elaine was awake and already milling around. Starscream smirked. She wasn't _that _awful, for a weak organic creature.

* * *

After finally getting the hell out of the store with her smokes and finishing up everything else on her lengthy list of things to do, Serah arrived home. Dropping everything onto the counter, she went to answer the phone that conveniently started ringing the second she walked into her home.

"Hey."

"Well, that's a charming way to answer the phone." The slightly shrill female voice on the other end stated. "I need a favor."

"I'm not lifting anything else in your cruddy basement, so forget it." Serah growled.

"No, I don't give a shit about the basement. That's old news. I need a babysitter for Alexis. I'm leaving town for a week."

"Are you serious?…" Was Serah's deadpan reply. "You call up someone who is notoriously ill-tempered and ask them to watch your kid? For a week? Are you out of your damned mind? Most people in town wouldn't even trust me with a pet rat for a few minutes. I'm not exactly babysitter material."

"No one else will watch her. No one likes me up here, except you."

"I don't like you at all. I tolerate you because you pay me to do work for you."

"Thanks a lot! I'll drop her off in 20 minutes!"

"Wait! I never said I'd take your damn kid for a week!"

The call was cut short before Serah could finish her sentence. She let out a frustrated shout. Well, this sort of interfered with the rest of her week, but she would somehow manage. She wasn't that good with kids, but Alexis was sweet and seemed to be really well-behaved, which was odd if you took into consideration the mannerisms of her alcoholic, irresponsible mother, who was gifted with all the decency and intelligence of a bloodsucking, hungry flea. If someone threw bad parenting, liquor, and insensitivity into one big pot, then took the conscience out of said pot, you'd end up with Jess Thi Dang. The woman was an idiot, plain and simple, who didn't particularly want to take care of her daughter or even acknowledge her gentle presence. It made Serah's blood boil every time she saw Jess drinking herself stupid with innocent, five year old Alexis watching mournfully. The child didn't deserve to pay for her mother's mistakes in life.

The redhead went about putting her groceries away and reorganizing a bit. Alexis' mother wouldn't really care if her house was dirty, but the child herself might want something a bit nicer to stay in for a week. She just hoped Elaine wouldn't mind a kid running around her property when she dropped in for a visit later on. Elaine was a tad bit abrasive herself at times, but she didn't seem to mind kids, and children of all ages definitely warmed up to her quite quickly.

* * *

Back at the farmland, Elaine was eyeing all the suds in her barn and all over her equipment with a little bit of distress. She looked at the purple seeker next to her.

"And...well, how did this happen again? Because I can understand how you managed to spill a little bit of soap; I get it. Happens to everyone once in awhile. But...I really don't get how it ended up _everywhere_." She tried to contain her outrage around Skywarp.

"Well…" The questioned flier began, sheepish expression on his faceplates. "There may have been a teleporting accident with the soap...And it fell...more than once."

On second thought, Elaine didn't want to know. She just wanted it cleaned up.

"Gonna be a hell of a job to get this straightened out. There are quite a bit of bubbles on everything in just about the entire barn." She sighed. "We're gonna have to clean this up before it dries and becomes disgusting. And go tell Starscream he can help too."

"But, why Starscream? He's not going to help. Why not Thundercracker?"

"Well, if Starscream doesn't help, then fine, but I'm going to give him one hell of an earful later for leaving you to your own devices around my tools. And I feel sorry for Thundercracker still, so he gets a break."

With that, Skywarp and Elaine reluctantly set out to clean the building. It was going to be another long day...

About 3 hours later, now that she was covered in grime and some water, Elaine surveyed her barn. On the upside, everything looked clean and organized to perfection. On the downside, she and Skywarp were kind of tired, grimy, and had just done a lot of work to get it to look that way. It didn't help that Starscream came in to laugh at them and proceeded to get his dirty footprints everywhere. Thundercracker, thankfully, was nice enough to stay outside away from the project. The two looked at each other for a moment.

"Did you hear that?" Skywarp asked.

"Sounded like a vehicle." Elaine said. "Tell Thundercracker and Starscream to get in the barn and stay here until I say otherwise. I'll go check it out."

The seekers proceeded to file into the building and hid, much to Starscream's disdain, while Elaine started running up the field toward the house. She was not at all pleased to see a red Avalanche in her driveway. She was less pleased to see a brown-haired little girl stumble out of the large vehicle and follow Serah towards the porch.

Elaine got about 10 feet away from the porch when she caught Serah's attention. The redhead grinned at her friend, but quickly frowned when she noticed the other woman scowling at her and the kid. Before she had a chance to speak up, the brunette did first.

"Don't you ever call first?"

"Well...not always. You've been a bit quiet lately. Figured I'd stop up and see ya, maybe get the tires put on the truck. Make sure you're not dead or something like that."

"Touching. Really. I'm glad I have a friend like you."

"You should be. You're lucky. I hate almost everyone else." Serah went back to grinning. "So, you seem jumpy. Everything okay?"

"Yep."

"I don't believe you..."

In the midst of their bickering, neither women noticed the small girl wandering to the barn out of curiosity. It looked like there were lights and movement in said building. Alexis, being an inquisitive kid, decided to venture out there and take a look. She had made it all the way to the barn and around the building's corner before anyone noticed anything amiss.

* * *

Alexis stared up at the huge machines that were looking down at her. They had all gone completely silent and watched her through their bright red optics. Were they Elaine's helpers? Serah had told her once that Elaine had a bunch of big machines laying around. Maybe Elaine built them because she needed friends. Aunt Serah was always talking about how Miss Elaine was all by herself all the time. She decided after about five minutes or so to introduce herself since the robots weren't saying a word.

"Hi." She said, looking up at the giants. "I'm Alexis. Who are you? Why are you in Miss Elaine's barn? Are you her helpers?"

Thundercracker was the first to say anything.

"Hello youngling." His voice startled her a little, soft as he tried to keep it. "Why are you out here? Where are your creators?"

"What are creators?" The little girl asked.

"He means your parents. That's what humans call their creators, right?" Skywarp cut in.

"My daddy's gone. He's a soldier. He's not back yet." Her eyes got a little teary as she looked up at them. "Momma...gave me to Aunt Serah. She said she was going somewhere and I couldn't go with her. She said she wasn't gonna come back because she doesn't want me anymore."

Alexis, being reminded of her predicament and what had happened that morning, began to cry. She was a strong girl, but having to deal with being separated from the only parent she ever knew, permanently, broke her heart. At her young age, it was a very difficult ordeal to cope with. Tears ran down her tiny face and she clutched the only possession she had, a small stuffed dog resembling a german shepard, to her chest.

Starscream panicked as long-hidden seeker protocols kicked in. Seekers were designed first as protectors and caregivers to the sparklings and younglings of Vos. Many knew that the fliers-turned-war builds made the best caretakers and sitters. Without any sparklings around due to the war, Starscream and Thundercracker found said programs responding to the little girl in front of them. Despite trying to override said protocols, they were too deeply ingrained in their processors and sparks to ignore. Skywarp, being much younger, still had the same protocols, but they didn't react as strongly. Instead, he looked helplessly to his two trinemates, then back to the crying child.

Being unable to resist the programming any longer and being uncomfortable with the shrill crying that was hurting his processor, Starscream gently moved forward and lifted the tiny human being into his palm, cradling her close to his cockpit.

"Shh, calm down youngling." He began attempting to comfort her. "You are safe right now and crying won't do you any good. It'll only make you sick."

Thundercracker began speaking to her in seekercant, which was almost unheard of now. The language hadn't been spoken much among their kind since the beginning of the war; most grounders considered it threatening and had never heard it used in such a gentle manner. Skywarp edged closer to look at the human and settled near Starscream quietly. After a few moments, Alexis began to calm down and settle into Starscream's hand.

At that moment, Elaine came running around the corner of the barn in a state of panic, Serah close behind her.

"What the big deal if she wants to play in the barn? Not like she's gonna hurt your damn tools or anythi-" The redhead stopped mid-sentence as she looked into the barn.

Starscream glared at Elaine with an expression that clearly read '_See what you've reduced me to?'_ before looking down at the now sleeping child once again. The two other seekers just continued to dote over the tiny girl.

"Elaine, what the hell have you been up to?!" Serah finally shouted. "You know what those things are, don't you? You can't keep them in your barn! It's not like they're a litter of kittens or something! They're Decepticons! I know you're lonely, but this is ridiculous! You could've found some more ideal friends!"

"Hey lady, shut up. We just got her to stop crying and recharge. You're going to wake her up." Skywarp said to the shouting, angry woman.

"Seriously? Are you kidding me, Elaine? Did you hear how he just spoke to me? Hey, answer me! Don't just stand there like a moron. Do something!"

But Elaine was just standing there with her head in her hands, muttering something about stupid friends, stupid robots, and needing more coffee from the store.

"And rope." She muttered. "Some rope to hang myself with would be delightful."

Serah was now speaking angrily to Skywarp.

"Give her back! You can't keep her! I was asked to watch her, and I'll be damned if three freaks from another planet kidnap someone else's kid."

"Frag you, lady! And who are you calling freaks? If you were asked to watch her, then you're doing a terrible job anyway! I don't think we should give her back to you if you can't keep a better eye on her."

"Are you fricken' kidding me?! Elaine, do something! They can't keep Jess' kid!"

"Silence, human." Starscream growled. "If you wake her and I have to hear that pit-damned crying again, I'll step on you."

Serah paled and looked helplessly at her friend, who was still shaking her head and trying to figure out a way to disappear off the face of the Earth entirely. Elaine finally looked up at her.

"Where did you find them? And why haven't they killed you yet?"

"Well…" Elaine began. "They crashed here when their leader tried to kill them, so technically they're not Decepticons anymore. They were all hurt, so I let them stay for a little while. You know, they're really not that bad when they're not causing mischief and destroying my equipment."

"Hey! You're still hung up on that thing? C'mon!" Skywarp groaned.

Serah shook her head and looked back at the three machines. Thundercracker spoke up once he was sure that the child was fast asleep.

"What kind of carrier abandons their own creation to strangers?"

"Wait, what do you mean?" Serah was confused. "You mean her mother?"

Skywarp nodded.

"I'm just watching her for a week. She'll come back..."

"That's not what the youngling said." Skywarp replied. "Her 'mother' told her she wasn't coming back. She told the kid she didn't want her anymore."

Serah's brief look of surprise turned to rage instantly. Elaine's face twisted into an ugly grimace and she growled. All three mechs looked at them with concern.

"Did she say where she was going?" Elaine asked. "Because if you know, I'll _retrieve_ her and _inform _her that abandoning a child is _unacceptable_."

"Oh, not if I get to her first!" Serah seethed.

Serah looked up at the mechs.

"We've gotta go find the wretch responsible for this. Hand me Alexis and I'll have her stay here with Elaine and Titan until I sort this out."

Starscream held her a bit closer to his chest, an offended expression crossing his face.

"We're perfectly capable of watching her ourselves. _We_ were the ones that took care of her when she was distressed. _You_ are the dimwit that lost track of her and let her run off _by herself_. Why should _we_ give her back to _you_? Seekers are the best caregivers on Cybertron, warbuilds included."

Elaine took over before Serah could say anything potentially rude.

"Starscream, I trust you with her, but Serah doesn't know you at all and has no reason to trust you yet. I will personally see to it that she's safe in my home while we figure out where her mother went. I'll have Titan guard her. He may look tiny to you, but he's no slouch."

Serah cut in.

"_That's_ Starscream? Elaine, I've read about him in the news! Good God, what is wrong with you?!" She looked at the red mech, who was still glaring at her.

"I'll give her to _you_, Elaine, but only because you're a better choice than your _idiot friend_." Starscream smirked. "Don't drop her."

The seeker handed Alexis off gently to the farm owner. The tiny girl only stirred for a moment before falling back asleep in Elaine's strong arms, her stuffed dog still clutched to her chest. Titan had wandered over and stood protectively in front of both of them, a silent promise to protect his owner and the little girl.

"Watch over the youngling, fleabag."

The red doberman sneezed at Starscream before brushing up against his owner's side.

Serah flipped all three mechs off before walking out of the barn.

"I don't know what that means, but I don't like it." Thundercracker mumbled.

"You'll like it even less when I tell you what it actually entails." Elaine muttered. "I'll be back down in a little while...Thanks, for taking care of her. You're the last ones I'd ever hand a child over to, but I appreciate the three of you not stepping on her or something…"

Starscream scoffed at her while Thundercracker looked horrified at her statement. Skywarp just frowned down at the woman, obviously hurt that she'd ever think such a thing.

"Like we'd ever step on a sparkling!" Thundercracker raged. "What is wrong with you, woman?!"

Elaine had already walked out of the barn and towards the house to catch up with her swearing friend, Titan following close behind her.

"Calm down, Thundercracker." Starscream said. "It's not her fault that her entire race is composed of _absolute morons_. She doesn't know any better."

"I think we should've kept the sparkling. What if it gets hurt?" The blue flier looked worried.

"Stop being so soft about it! It's not even one of our kind! Who the hell would even want such a squishy, disgusting little thing like that anyway?!"

"Sure, Screamer. Whatever you say...Not like you were holding her a few minutes ago like a worried carrier or anything…" Skywarp grinned.

"Shut up, you annoying teleporting afthole!"

"For once, he's got a good point."

"Frag off, Thundercracker! No one asked you!"

"Can we get one? I want a sparkling."

Thundercracker and Starscream stared back at Skywarp with mortified looks on their faceplates.

"NO!" Came the simultaneous answer.

* * *

Elaine had Alexis settled into the soft cushions of the cabin, blanket draped over her small form. Titan was settled beside her, keeping her safe and warm while Elaine started a fire in the living room fireplace. Serah was talking furiously to someone on the phone.

"What do you mean, 'gone'? People don't just disappear!" She snapped.

The lady on the other end of the line answered her.

"Wait...she's dead? What the hell happened?..." Serah face had visibly paled. "Figures it'd be an overdose. What about her kid? You said she didn't have any family left. Her father's gone too?..."

Elaine looked at her friend, then back to the child. She wasn't happy about the entire situation. She was even less pleased that she couldn't drag the mother kicking and screaming back to her home.

"That's a damn shame. She's a ward of the state now, right? Well, I'm her babysitter...I may not be much, but the kid knows me." Serah began. "Any possible way I'd be able to...adopt her?"

Elaine's head snapped up in surprise. She looked to her friend, mouth agape.

"I'm already on the paperwork as her guardian?...When did the papers get signed?...Oh, no! Not at all, just don't remember when they were dated for, that's all!...A couple months ago? Sounds about right. Yep, sure. That's my signature!"

Serah looked to Elaine and shook her head.

"Well, I'll pick up the papers and sign whatever you need if you'll fax them over to me...Yep, the County Clerk's office right in town….Yeah, that's right….Great, I'll get her enrolled in school next week….Of course. Thank you, ma'am. You have a nice night too."

Serah hung up the phone. Elaine looked a bit confused.

"Well, apparently I wasn't signing a contract for babysitting her kid…"

"You signed guardianship papers and didn't notice?"

"I was really busy that day!"

"You're an idiot…" Elaine brushed her hair out of her eyes. "So, the kid stays with you?"

"Yep, I guess. She needs a home. Who else is gonna take her? No one liked her Mama."

"That's true. Well, if you need any help, you can always leave her here, or call me. I'll watch her for you."

"And risk having _Starscream_ watch her? No, I don't think so. She's staying home with me. I'll come over to visit once in awhile, but you should seriously think about getting those robots out of your barn. I don't care how lonely you are; they're not good company. You're going to get yourself killed."

"Serah, you can't say a word. It'll put everyone in danger…"

"Oh, I won't. But hear me out; you can't be so trusting. I've seen the damage they can do. Maybe they're not Decepticons anymore, but until they've got a red symbol on their armor instead of that nasty purple sign, I don't trust 'em."

Elaine supposed that was as far as she'd get for the time being. She trusted Serah not to say anything; they'd been friends for years. She was a bit surprised that her gruff friend took the girl in though, but there was always a reason behind everything Serah did. Sooner or later she supposed she'd find out the _why_ of the situation.

"So…" Serah started. "I know it's been a busy week and all, but can I still get those tires changed around?"

Elaine glared at her friend and walked away while Serah stood there grinning. Tomorrow would surely be as interesting as today; that much was guaranteed.


	7. Chapter 7: Persistent

Chapter 7: Persistent

The day after Alexis' arrival was spent mainly trying to establish a decent place for her to stay and filling out large amounts of paperwork concerning said child. Serah insisted upon getting her enrolled in school as soon as possible, even though school didn't start for a another couple of weeks in their town. Apparently, the girl's mother had _homeschooled_ her, though neither woman could even begin to think of how that turned out; they were both incredibly surprised that the girl could even read and speak properly after being stuck all day in a house with her mother. Elaine was adamant about cleaning Serah's house up and making it an acceptable place for the young girl to live, much to the homeowner's annoyance.

"There's nothing wrong with my house." Serah whined.

"There's _plenty_ wrong with your house. And I will fix it or she will live with me and the _giant alien robots_. Starscream would be delighted to watch her, I'll bet." Elaine snapped back.

That pretty much ended the argument and the muscular woman let her smaller friend have her way with the place. Even though it meant completely clearing out one of the rooms, which before had served as a guest bedroom that looked like utter hell, it was well worth the effort. Elaine had made trips back and forth to the hardware store all day, Alexis in tow. The girl was extremely quiet but surprisingly helpful the entire time; the shop owner already completely adored her and offered to babysit. Elaine told him she'd give him a call, but didn't know whether or not a hardware store was a great place for a little girl and that it was ultimately up to her guardian to make that choice. Then again, her farm at the moment was an even worse spot with three large mechs running around.

"Well, everything's done as far as clearing the room out. Now we've gotta paint it." Elaine smiled down at the quiet girl. "We'll head down to the garage to pick out the colors. I've got lots and lots of paint."

Alexis gave a polite smile back and followed the woman to the building that was temporarily housing the seekers. At the moment, Starscream was the only one in there. It was a good thing Serah thought they were going to be in town all day; she'd have a massive heart attack if she knew where the two were at the moment.

"Elaine." The red seeker smirked. "I see that the youngling survived the night."

"Of course she did, Starscream. I'm not _that_ incompetent." Elaine grinned back at him. "I even fed her this morning. See? She's fine."

Alexis tugged on Elaine's sleeve.

"Can I say hello to him too?" She quietly asked.

"Of course you can!" Elaine laughed.

"Miss Serah says he's a bad guy…"

"Just because he's the bad guy doesn't mean he's a _bad guy_. He's very nice. Go ahead and say hello if you'd like."

The poor kid looked a bit confused by that statement, but wandered up to the seeker anyway.

"Hello Mr. Starscream!" She smiled up at him.

"Um...hello, youngling." He replied, taking a step back.

Elaine almost laughed. She never would've thought of Starscream as awkward; he was graceful, cunning, and had a way with words most of the time. And yet, here he was, completely out of place trying to talk to a human child, like he was afraid to even move. Luckily, Skywarp chose to come walking in at the perfect time. He immediately noticed the small human next to Starscream's feet. The other woman walked out of his path to avoid getting stepped on. As much as she liked Skywarp, she didn't trust him to pay attention to where he was going while he was focused on something else. She'd have to talk to him about being especially careful around Alexis later on.

"Hey kiddo!" The purple mech walked over to her. "How are ya feeling?"

Alexis glanced at Elaine, who was about to speak when Starscream beat her to it.

"Youngling, this moron is Skywarp. Be careful around him. He's a bit clumsy and doesn't watch where he's going a majority of the time."

"Mr. Starscream, that's not a very nice thing to call your friend. You'll hurt his feelings. You should tell him you're sorry."

The older woman stood off to the side, laughing. Well, she didn't expect the shy child to outright scold someone fifty times her size…It was strange. She often wouldn't speak at all to other people. The only ones she opened up to so far were Serah and herself, and even then it was limited. Occasionally, they'd catch her speaking intently to Titan, as if she was telling the large doberman something very important. The dog would turn his head to the side and listen closely, then move forward to lick her face, ending the entire conversation and sending the girl into a giggling fit.

"I like her already!" Skywarp beamed, looking down at Alexis. "The two of us are going to be really good friends!"

Alexis smiled back up at him. Starscream shook his head.

"Great, just what we need." He mumbled. "Skywarp teaching pranks and idiocy to an impressionable young mind. Where is Thundercracker when you need him?"

"Well…" Elaine cut in. "I'd hate to break this up, but I've gotta get some paint and get going again. We've got a room to finish. Did you decide what color you wanted, Alexis? I've got just about all of them in the cabinet. You can paint your room whatever you'd like; it's yours."

Alexis thought about it for a moment, taking her time to really consider her options. She'd never had a room of her own before. The one at her mother's house had been in the laundry room with a small bed in the corner near the window. The house's small size made it impossible for her to have her own space. In the summer, it was hot and stuffy. In the winter, it was cold and she'd have to turn the dryer on to warm the room. The noise of the loud machine's spontaneous banging and groaning was enough to wake her several times during the night. The child didn't realize how nice it was to have a decent night's sleep until the previous night when she rested on Elaine's couch, warm and safe in a stranger's dwelling.

The little girl walked closer to Starscream, who immediately tensed up. She placed a small hand on his leg and looked back at Elaine.

"I like this color blue." She shyly answered. "And his red."

Elaine smiled.

"So, I'll find that color blue and a red that matches Starscream's paint for you. See any other colors you like?"

Alexis shook her head.

"Alright." The older woman held her hand out to the girl, who immediately bounded over and grabbed ahold of it. "We'll go get them and then we can paint your room for you."

The adult and child both gathered up the paint in some sort of basket and made their way back up to Elaine's truck, leaving the two seekers standing in the barn. Skywarp grinned at his Air Commander.

"Shut up, Skywarp."

"I didn't say anything, 'Screamer!"

"You were about to! And stop calling me that!"

* * *

Serah was finally finished with the monotonous task of filling out paperwork. Most of it had been faxed to the Clerk's office, where she sat at one of their ugly tables, in one of their uncomfortable, hideous chairs and proceeded to complete it. _All of it._ The lady at the desk, knowing Serah and hearing certain _incidents_ the young woman had been involved in around town, eyed her cautiously the entire time.

The large redhead left the building and climbed into her Avalanche, debating what to do next. She knew Elaine would be determined to finish the room today, and was probably almost done with the project. When the brunette set her mind to something, she finished it in a very timely manner and was dedicated to making sure it was perfect. It was a trait that had served her well as a mechanic, and spilled over into everything else she did in her life.

Since the room was being taken care of and all the legal mumbo-jumbo was in order, there were only a couple of things left to do, one of them being the bane of Serah's existence; shopping. She _hated_ shopping with a burning passion. It was mindless, tedious, and almost always a pain in the ass. They had one general store in town that served as a grocery and supply store. It had almost everything you could think of and was quite versatile as far as the inventory went. You could get gardening supplies, meat, birdseed, and Windex all in one trip and be overcharged mercilessly for your transaction. The gruff woman didn't even mind the price so much; it was the people. She always ran into other humans that seemed to make it their personal mission to hold her up and completely obliterate any thought of having a somewhat decent day. Much like the cigarette adventure with the Offensive Credit Card Tourist and the Crazy Lady Standing Outside The Store, everything was more complicated than it should have been.

Luckily for Serah, Elaine was a shopping genius. She clipped coupons like some sort of obsessive-compulsive basket case looking for a bargain, and she always had a card for _every single store_ they stopped at. By the time she was done getting all of the things she needed, she more than likely had spent half the money most people did on the same purchases. The nearest city-like area was about 50 minutes away from the small town, but it contained almost every store they would need to outfit Alexis for school and her new home.

Serah put her truck in gear and began driving to her house. She'd have to go shopping at some point, but she'd be damned if she was going to do it by herself. Bringing Alexis to the city to go shopping without Elaine would end in disaster, not to mention cost her a small fortune since the poor kid didn't seem to have much in the way of possessions. The muscular woman sighed. She had no clue how the girl could be so sweet and polite, not to mention intelligent and articulate for her age, after the way she was treated for the years she had been alive. From what Serah could gather, the girl was a genius and should have been treasured, not abandoned and left behind. Both her and Elaine were determined to give the tiny girl the best life they could; it'd make them both feel like they had some other purpose than to simply plod through life as they were currently were. They could give back and do something positive that wasn't construction or working on equipment for once.

She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice the glaringly obvious, extremely expensive pair of cars parked in one of the parking areas at the local hardware store. How she managed to completely overlook two Lamborghinis that a small crowd of youngsters was practically drooling over was a mystery, and one that would surely come back to bite her in the ass later on.

* * *

Starscream was frustrated beyond belief. He didn't realize at first that his comm system had been damaged during their escape from the Nemesis, but it needed to be fixed ASAP if any of his plans were to be carried out. He'd already worked on himself and the two other seekers to mask their energy signatures as soon as he'd had the time. To other mechs, they would appear offline if tracked. They no longer had to worry about being found by any long range scanners and short-range ones would just report three lifeless shells if any other Cybertronians came close enough to actually scan them. Then again, it would be rather difficult to explain why three presumably dead forms were up and walking around, so the seekers had to exercise care and make sure they weren't spotted by either factions.

To make matters worse, they were running a bit low on energon again. The drained bit that Elaine had come across was dwindling in supply and, even running only the necessary systems they needed, fliers still needed a fairly large amount of energon to function properly.

Starscream would have to convert more fuel from the recently refilled tank on Elaine's property and hoped that such a large amount of gas being used at the farm would fly under the radar. He doubted it, and would have to ask the farm owner if there was another alternative they could pursue for the time being. First, he would get his comm link working again. He'd worry about the fuel later because, as pressing a matter as it was, finding shelter for his trine possibly among the Autobots, was more important at the moment. Much to Skywarp's dismay, they couldn't stay on Elaine's property forever. Time was running out and they'd soon have to move on.

On top of all of his worries, a youngling had been thrown into the mix. Starscream was an awful mech. He was well aware of that and had been for quite some time. He had done horrendous things to mechs in both factions, but one thing he could never bring himself to do was cause harm to any sparklings or younglings, no matter what species they were. Seeker protocols prevented that, and so did the mech's own personal views on the subject. When he was a scientist, he was always curious about organics and their worlds and would often tread carefully during his studies. His partner, Skyfire, was the same way. The two fliers thought that there was much they could learn by studying other species. Beyond that, they were both just fascinated with how things worked. Coming to this planet after the two factions had been warring for so long, sparked a long-hidden fascination within Starscream in the midst of all the conflict. He began to explore again, studying everything he could get his hands on, disguising his interest as a pursuit for more energon or more complex weaponry to use against the Autobots. It all came to a head when he'd found his old Academy partner buried beneath the ice. Megatron had not-so-carefully informed him that the shuttle would become a warrior for the Decepticons or be offlined otherwise. Starscream knew of the shuttle's pacifist views and gentle nature. It didn't work out in the end, as he suspected it wouldn't, and the seeker was forced to put aside any friendship he may have had with Skyfire and fire on him. Something inside the Air Commander had snapped the day he was forced to injure his friend. He found himself _thankful_ that the Autobots had arrived and somehow rescued Skyfire from certain death. After getting back to the base and being brutally beaten for his failure, Starscream poured himself into his work, desperate to find an alternative to the senseless slaughtering and fighting. If he could find a way to naturally convert energon on this planet without destroying it and turning it into a lifeless shell, similar to what Cybertron had become, perhaps they could restore their home to its former glory. _That_ had become Starscream's goal. And somehow, Megatron had found out, leading to his attempt to offline his Second in Command and the Command Trine. It didn't explain his off-lining of the other seekers though, and that was still a mystery that had yet to be unraveled.

The Air Commander, despite his disturbing acts of violence and downright nasty attitude towards others, didn't want to fight anymore. Thundercracker and Skywarp, the only other mechs that knew of his view on the war, shared his sentiments toward it. No one wanted to fight anymore, except for Megatron and his most loyal followers, who were fighting a senseless battle in their power-hungry quest to control everything they could get their blood-stained servos on. Those fools didn't realize that their conquest would only lead to more destruction. What were they to rule over when they were finished destroying and ruining every planet they touched? Conquering lifeless lands was pointless. The Decepticon leader, unfortunately, was too far gone and insane to acknowledge that.

With dimmed optics and a visibly agitated expression on his faceplates, Starscream returned his attention to the task at hand. He was not a _failure_ and he refused to be looked down upon as one anymore. He would succeed this time, or die trying. When other mechs stood over his offlined frame, they could remember that his last moments had been spent trying to do something good for the entire Cybertronian race.

* * *

Sunstreaker growled and visibly shuddered as one of those filthy humans brushed up against him. He spoke via comm link to his twin, who was sitting beside him.

_:: Sideswipe, if one more of these disgusting organics touches my paint job, I'm going to run them over. ::_

_:: Chill out, Sunshine. You know Optimus would have a fit if you even touched a human, let alone ran one over. Besides, do you know how nasty it would be to have to clean that off your underside? ::_

The yellow lamborghini visibly shuddered at the thought. He was filthy from the unmanaged, poorly maintained highways in this puny little town and absolutely miserable to be put on such a pointless assignment. Optimus though, insisted that a team check it out after Red Alert reported a few odd colored jets going down. He was _certain_ there were Decepticons in the area, though none had been spotted or reported by any humans yet. Sunstreaker had deemed it a waste of time and chalked it up to Red Alert's constant state of paranoia. Sideswipe, on the other hand, was more than happy to get out of the base and drive for a while. He wasn't nearly as vain or worried about his paint job as his brother was, though he did try to maintain a halfway decent appearance.

Sunstreaker was about to lose his patience when his scanners picked up something.

_:: Sides, did you get that? ::_

_:: Yeah...residual energon signature. Seems like it was coming from that red truck that just passed by. I wonder what a human would be doing around energon… ::_

_:: Let's follow it and find out. The sooner we can get back to the Ark, the better. I need to buff out all these annoying little scratches I got on the way to this slagging pit-hole of a place. ::_

The two brightly colored cars followed the red Avalanche through the town, taking side streets and a couple of other roads to avoid detection by the vehicle's owner. They came to a stop at a decent-sized dwelling on one of the less busy roads and parked around the corner from the house, scanners and audios tuned in on the truck and house. A tall, red haired woman with a muscular frame gracefully exited the truck and walked onto the house's porch, where she met with a smaller brunette and a child, both spattered with a bit of paint.

* * *

Serah met Elaine at the door.

"So, all that fricken' paperwork is done. I swear that most of it was pointless." Serah grumbled. "How's the room coming?"

"All painted. Just waiting for it to dry and opened the windows up to clear out the fumes."

"...Fumes? What the hell kind of paint did you use?"

"Regular house paint. Toward the end I airbrushed some really nice designs and details onto the wall though. You ought to see it. Looks great!"

"You airbrushed the walls?" Serah shook her head. "What the hell's the matter with you? You want to give the poor kid lung cancer?"

"Relax. I sent her out of the room while I was airbrushing. No harm done." Elaine rolled her eyes. "Between you and that damned red giant, I can't get any peace. If you'd both relax and realize that I'm not going to spontaneously kill the kid, things would go alot smoother."

"Don't compare me to that monster!"

"Why? You're both very much alike."

"If you weren't my best friend, I'd choke you."

"That's not very nice." Alexis piped up. "You shouldn't hurt your friends."

"She's right." Elaine grinned. "You really _shouldn't_ hurt your friends."

Serah's eye twitched. She stood up a bit straighter and folded her arms across her chest.

"We need to do something else still. I need your help." She began. "Alexis is gonna need clothes and school supplies, and I need to get a bunch of groceries for the two of us."

"Okay. Well, I guess we'll go shopping tomorrow. It's too late today, and we're all tired. How about you two sleep at my place tonight? The house needs to air out and the paint needs to dry. We've gotta move the rest of the furniture into Alexis' room tomorrow anyway and it's not like she can sleep on your awful couch."

"Hey! My couch isn't awful!"

"Yes, yes it absolutely is." Elaine replied. "It's an abomination. Besides, don't you want to spend more time with me?"

"And risk having to hang out with your new _friends_?" Serah glared at the smaller woman. "I'll stay for one night, but only to make Alexis more comfortable and to also make sure you don't _die_ in the middle of the night thanks to the interesting oversized dangerous _company_ you decided to keep."

"Thanks!" Elaine smiled at her friend. "I'll get some dinner ready when we get home. Alexis, Titan needs a bath tonight. Would you like to help with that?"

Alexis perked right up while the doberman, who had been extremely quiet for most of the day, sneezed at his owner.

"Ew! Titan, we don't sneeze on people. It's nasty and impolite." His owner scolded him.

"Miss Elaine, may I go see Starscream when we get to your house?" Alexis inquired.

"That's up to Serah, but I certainly don't mind." The brunette tried to ignore the redhead's piercing glare.

"I'd rather you didn't." Serah replied. "But if you absolutely have to go see him, I'll go with you."

The larger woman looked to her best friend.

"And I'll take Titan and your precious shotgun with me too, just in case. I _don't_ trust him and I don't care how nice he's been to you, Elaine. He is what he is, and even you can't change that. If he tries _anything_, you will take Alexis and run while I take his eyes out."

"He won't." Elaine scowled. "He isn't like that. You can't always believe what you hear or see on the news. He's not a monster, and neither are his brothers. They're hurt right now, and they need my help."

The doberman walked up to Elaine's truck. Elaine opened the door for him before climbing in and starting the vehicle. Serah locked up her house and led Alexis to her truck, picking the girl up so she wouldn't have to climb into it. Both women started to drive back to the farm, Serah grimacing at the thought of the small child's fascination with the dangerous Air Commander. She meant what she said about blinding him. She only wished she had an excuse and the proper equipment to be permanently rid of the threat he posed.

* * *

Sideswipe was the first to speak.

_:: This is bad. This is very, very bad. I mean, who in their right mind would bring a youngling around that afthole? ::_

_:: The smaller one mentioned that they were injured. Think we could take them out, Sides? ::_

_:: ...Not yet. We were told to watch, not get into a fight. Let's see what they're up to before we go charging in. ::_

Sunstreaker snarled loudly, displeased with his twin's answer.

_:: Look, I'm not any happier than you are about this whole thing. If it were up to me, I'd offline all three of them. ::_ Sideswipe tried to reason with him. _:: But there are humans involved, and we can't risk them getting hurt. If Screamer and his cronies try anything, __**then**_ _we'll try to step in and call for backup. But right now, we have to see what's going on first. ::_

The Lamborghinis followed at a safe distance, keeping back a few hundred feet to avoid being spotted. When the two trucks turned onto a dirt road, they waited for them to disappear from sight, but kept them in scanner range. They'd have to be extremely careful when it came to following the women; they were exactly made for blending in.

"Sideswipe?"

"Yeah, Sunny?"

"Don't call me that!" The yellow frontliner snapped. "Why couldn't they send Bumblebee or Jazz out here? That would make a lot more sense."

"Because Optimus didn't think we'd actually find anything, _and_ we're being punished."

"Yeah, no thanks to you…"

"Hey! You helped get the paint! Don't act like it was all my fault!"

"This _entire situation_ is your fault...My paint job is going to be ruined by the time we're done here!"

Sideswipe sighed. This was going to be an awful mission, with or without the Seeker's involvement.


	8. Chapter 8: Misunderstandings

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, its characters, or its content. I am making no money off this story or its chapters, and I do not intend to.

A/N: Thanks so much for all the awesome reviews! I'm glad I've gotten some more time to work on this as of late and will try my best to continue updating as regularly as possible!

Chapter 8: Misunderstandings

Elaine fulfilled her promise of making dinner for all three of them; Serah was thankful for this, as no one else would have to suffer her idea of cooking, which was healthy, but disgusting. After they had managed to get a decent meal, Alexis took Titan down to the barn for his bath, Serah following close behind with the shotgun. The landowner cleaned up the kitchen, threw the dishes in the dishwasher, and met them down there shortly after, only to discover Serah already arguing with Skywarp.

"I wasn't going to hurt her! I was just saying hi!" The mech whined.

"Just keep your freakish hands to yourself! You don't need to pick her up to say hello!" The redhead growled, pointing the shotgun at Skywarp in a very threatening manner.

Elaine intervened before any seekers lost an optic.

"Serah, knock it off. Skywarp isn't going to hurt Alexis; he's the most friendly out of all three of them."

"How can you be so sure they mean well? You've only known them for a couple of days."

"Well, if you'd stop being such a cockwaffle and give them a chance, maybe I could get to know them even better and give you a definitive answer as to what they're here for."

"I'm...being a _what_? What the hell does that even mean?" Serah looked confused.

Alexis joined the conversation.

"Miss Elaine, what's a cockwaffle?"

Both women cringed.

"Nothing!" Elaine backpedaled. "That's not a very nice word and I shouldn't have said it. And neither should you, but it's not your fault because you didn't know any better!"

"I too am curious as to what a _cockwaffle_ is." Thundercracker said from the corner of the building with a smirk on his face.

"You stay out of this!" Serah yelled. "Alexis doesn't need to be taught words like that!"

Skywarp was laughing at the entire situation. Starscream shook his head and returned to his work, refusing to even get involved in the silliness.

Titan nudged Alexis, who rinsed off the dog so he could go about his business. He shook off, spraying the girl with water and making her shriek, and ran out of the barn towards the house. He didn't want to be late for his perimeter check again tonight and he needed to check up on _everything_. The large dog wouldn't be caught slacking off when it came to everyone's safety, especially with a child thrown into the mix. As wary as the doberman was of the seekers, he could sense that they meant no harm. The most malevolent out of the three, Starscream, had even seemed to calm down and acquire a different air about him since Alexis had come to the farm. Something had changed and though the inquisitive dog wasn't sure as to what, he knew it was alright to trust the safety of his humans in the hands of all three metal giants.

After everything settled down, Elaine began work on the tractor she had been neglecting while Serah decided to assist her with it. The gun was leaned up against the machine and the woman was keeping a close eye on the seeker trine and her new charge. She still felt quite unsettled about having to take care of a child, but it was the right thing to do and she supposed she'd get used to it as time passed. She had always wanted one of her own, though she'd never even tell her closest friend that. The woman was rough around the edges and most of the problem was finding someone she could tolerate and also someone who could tolerate her. So far, Elaine was the only one that had managed to weasel her way past the redhead's attitude and into her life without being scared off or ridiculously offended.

Alexis, having nothing else to do, wandered over to Starscream. Thundercracker sat beside his trine leader and observed his work quietly, keeping an optic on Skywarp as well, who was attempting to help Elaine, much to Serah's discomfort.

"Mr. Starscream, what are you doing?" Came the little voice from beside his leg.

"I'm working, youngling. Perhaps Thundercracker will take some time to entertain you. I cannot right now. Maybe later when I'm not so busy."

Thundercracker looked down at the child and smiled. Little did everyone else know, he was great with sparklings and younglings.

"Okay...Mr. Thundercracker, what are you? Did Miss Elaine build you guys 'cuz she was lonely?"

Thundercracker laughed.

"No, sweetspark. We're from a planet called Cybertron. It's very, very far away from here. A bad mech tried to hurt us, so Elaine let us stay here for a little while."

He continued to tell Alexis about Cybertron, mostly telling her stories from Vos concerning seekers and fliers and what life was like before the war had started. The blue seeker patiently answered every question she asked. Starscream, though immersed in his work, was pleased that she showed such an interest in his kind when most of her species had been quick to label them monsters. Maybe there was hope for a future alliance between humans and mechs after all...

Elaine cursed as she sliced her arm open on a bit of jagged metal. It wasn't deep, but it still hurt like hell and was bound to bleed everywhere for a couple of minutes.

"Serah, grab me that rag over there, will you?"

Her friend handed the item over and she made quick work of wrapping up her arm.

"There's oil and grease all over that thing. It's gonna get infected and nasty if you keep it wrapped with that."

"Elaine, that looks pretty bad. I can get Starscream and maybe he could patch it for you…" Skywarp cringed when he saw her arm. When it came to organics, he was pretty squeamish.

"Oh, can it. It's fine. I'll clean it later. I'm not having Starscream come over to _fix_ my arm. That's ridiculous. Can I have that wrench, Serah? Nope, the other one...Yep, that one. Thanks."

The purple flier was a huge help when it came to moving the tractor about while the humans were working on it. He seemed to take great pride in the fact that he wasn't causing any trouble and was doing some good, for once. He sighed as he felt a light breeze blow across his wings. Thankfully, it had been a bit windy. He was itching to fly, as were his trine brothers, but knew they were grounded for the time being. It was a sensitive situation; one wrong move and either of the factions would learn of their whereabouts. He hoped Starscream's plan was going to work. If it didn't, they were slagged.

* * *

Sunstreaker grunted, brushing a branch away from his face.

"Sideswipe, tell me again why we have to trek through a fragging forest?"

"We can't get caught. If we drive up the road, they'll notice. There's only one house on this road, so it has to belong to that other woman. If the seekers are there, we don't want them to know we're out here."

Fate seemed to have other plans though, as a rust colored quadruped made his way to the source of the noise. As soon as he saw the two mechs, he let out a snarl and began barking at them.

"Frag!" Sunstreaker hissed, aiming his gun at the dog.

"Sunny, don't! You can't shoot organics!"

"It's going to get us spotted!"

It was too late though, as the red doberman ran back through the woods toward the farm, barking and growling the entire time.

* * *

Elaine and Serah snapped up from their work and Skywarp turned his head toward the source of the noise. Thundercracker and Starscream ceased their activity as well to try to figure out what was going on. Starscream scooped up Alexis and held her close to his cockpit with one hand.

"Elaine, what is that fleabag's problem?" He rasped.

"I don't know, but I'll check. He's never like this unless something's wrong." The young woman grabbed her shotgun and headed quickly in Titan's direction.

"Wait!" Skywarp yelled. "What if it's dangerous?"

"Then she'll shoot it, like she always does when she finds something dangerous." Serah replied. She glanced at Starscream. "What did I tell you fuckers about picking up the kid?"

"Quit your whining, fleshbag. I won't drop her. I'm keeping her safe from whatever that nasty dog found. And watch your filthy language."

Serah growled, but did nothing. As much as it pained her to admit it, he was right; Alexis was safer in his arms right now. No one in their right mind would try to forcefully pry anything out of Starscream's hands, as far as she could tell. When she had watched certain clips of the Decepticons, she had seen what those weapons on his arms could do and the end result wasn't pretty.

The five remaining in the barn suddenly heard loud shouting, followed by three shots going off. The shouting continued. Skywarp and Thundercracker took off in that direction, followed by Serah. Starscream was behind them, Alexis held securely against him.

"Starscream, what's going on?" She looked up at him, fear in her green eyes.

"I don't know, but I will keep you safe." He responded. For some reason that he couldn't even begin to fathom, he knew he would.

* * *

Elaine was still screaming at the red and yellow mechs walking toward her, firing shots at them as she retreated.

"Ow! Lady, knock it off! We're not going to hurt you!" Sideswipe yelled, trying to protect his face from the small shotgun shells.

"Fuck you! Get off my farm! You're not welcome here!"

Sunstreaker growled and kicked aside another small tree in his way. Sides could speak for himself. There were several small holes in the yellow mech's frame and they _were not_ going to be fun to fix and repaint.

"We just want to talk!"

"I don't want to talk! I want you to leave!" Elaine screamed back. "You are trespassing! I don't give a damn if you're Autobots or not! I don't want you here! Go away!"

By the time she was done running from them, the twins had already come out of the woods and stepped onto the property, only to be met with two seekers and a raging red headed woman, who was now brandishing a weapon of her own in the form of a tire iron. Behind the angry looking trio was the Air Commander himself, glaring at them and clutching a child to his chest, as if to protect her from the aggressive frontliners.

Before anyone could speak, Sunstreaker lunged at Thundercracker and the two were locked in combat. Skywarp in turn attacked the red twin. Elaine ran up to Serah and grabbed her by the arm.

"Where's Alexis?!"

"With that homicidal red maniac that you call your _friend_!"

"Good! She's safe with him!" Elaine replied, brushing off her friend's paranoia. "We need to break this up before it gets ugly!"

"It's already ugly, you dumbass! Look around!"

Thundercracker snarled at Sunstreaker as he roughly shoved him into the ground. His seeker protocols were active and he would fight to the death to protect his trine leader and the child he was holding. Skywarp was doing the same thing and soon the two seekers had the twins standing side by side a few feet away. All four mechs were snarling at each other. The seeker's wings were high on their back and they looked ready to tear the two grounders apart. Elaine shuddered. She had never seen Skywarp look so fierce, nor had she ever witnessed Thundercracker's face twisted into such a hostile expression. She supposed that this was how they got their fearsome reputation. Serah held Elaine close to her side, the tire iron out in front of her, making a last line of defense between the mechs and her friend. These Autobots were a lot less friendly than she thought they would be and she was slowly rethinking her view on the seekers as they fought to protect Alexis.

"Hand over the human hostages!" Sunstreaker growled.

"Frag off, afthole!" Skywarp yelled, energon dripping down his faceplates. Sideswipe had given him a nasty scratch at the top of his helm.

"What is _wrong _with you? I thought it'd be pretty damn obvious that we're not hostages!" Serah yelled. "You guys are the ones that started this shit, not them!"

Alexis was nearly crying as she watched her winged friends stand against the two unknown mechs. Starscream was holding her close to his chest in one hand while the other was aiming his null ray toward the twins, the last line of defense between the human youngling and a couple of supposedly human-friendly Autobots who were acting like the real monsters. She screamed at the two offending frontliners.

"Stop hurting TC and Skywarp! They didn't do anything to you!" The small voice sounded over the battleground, snapping everyone's attention toward the little girl in Starscream's palm.

"What did you say?" Sideswipe asked, incredulous. "These guys are the bad guys! They hate humans! Why are you defending them? They'll kill you!"

"No! You're bad too!" Alexis cried. "You hurt the fliers and burned Vos! You took Skywarp's family away! You're all bad! The whole war is bad! Stop fighting! It's wrong!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing to ponder over the child's words. Starscream chose that precise moment to address the Autobot twins.

"This is going to sound highly unusual to you glitch-heads, but I mean you no harm and neither do my trine brothers. We are defending _our_ human allies. We seek amnesty among the Autobots. If going back to your base as prisoners is preferable to you, we will do so, but only if we are guaranteed safety. You will not offline or attempt to offline us." He spoke as diplomatically as he could, though his tone was biting. "And leave the two women and the youngling out of this. They have offered us shelter and we will protect them _at all costs_. They are not to blame for any of this. _You_ have invaded _their_ private land when you had no right to."

Sunstreaker turned to Sideswipe.

_:: You don't believe a word of this, do you? ::_

_:: I don't really know what to think...It's pretty out of character for Screamer. We need to comm Optimus and get him down here so he can figure out what to do with them. I wouldn't put it past Starscream to use these humans in some sort of trap. ::_

"We'll comm Optimus and see what he decides. Until then, nobody moves an inch." Sunstreaker replied.

Sideswipe began relaying the information he had just been given to Optimus Prime, who was surprised by the recent events and told him to hold his position until he could arrive there.

"Prime is on his way." Sideswipe told Starscream.

Starscream nodded. It wasn't the mech he wanted to speak to, but it was better than talking to the twins of terror. He hoped that they could come to some sort of agreement. He looked down at Alexis, who was holding tightly to his servo and shaking, tears in her eyes. Another innocent life that should have never been involved in this pointless war…

* * *

Optimus had one hell of a processor-ache. Between dealing with Red Alert's paranoia for the majority of the day, checking over Prowl's _meticulously accurate_ reports, and being hit in the helm with a wrench by an infuriated Ratchet, it had been a rough day for the large mech. Was it his fault that he missed his routine check-up? Nope, not really. He _was_ the Prime after all, and was generally a tad bit fricken' preoccupied. Maybe someone should have reminded him. _That_ would have been _wonderful_.

Now, due to some Primus-forsaken glitch putting Sunstreaker and Sideswipe on patrol in just the right spot, he had another mess to deal with. Or...was he the glitch who had ordered them there? He didn't remember. Why? Because he was a busy, busy mech and right now, he was very, very exhausted.

Walking through the corridors, he thought of which mechs to bring with him to address the situation. It was an illogical, out of character one, so he automatically took Prowl off the list to avoid the processor freezes said mech was prone to. Besides, someone responsible to some extent would have to watch the base. When he had received the information via commlink, he was told that there were some minor injuries, so he would obviously have to bring Ratchet along, as pissed off as he was at the medic at the moment. There was one other mech he deemed necessary to have with him and he commed him the relevant information and location.

The situation was unique and odd. Starscream had never before shown any inclination toward peace or cooperation. It was very out of character for the mech. Many suspected it was a trap, but one couldn't be sure without looking into it. The trine leader had evidently tampered with their signals, making all three seekers appear offline. His reasoning for that was a mystery, but it seemed that he was attempting to hide them. If there were nothing else out of place, Optimus would have labeled it an elaborate ruse, but he had other confidential information to couple this entire mess with.

Jazz had found the offlined forms of the other seeker trine in a scrapyard. He had tracked residual energon readings there and reported and took snapshots of the mangled, torn mess the fliers had been reduced to. No Autobot, no matter how strongly they felt about the Decepticons, would do the unspeakable things that had been inflicted upon those mechs. Sunstreaker, as violent as he was, wouldn't have committed those atrocities. What was most telling about the situation though, was that the Decepticon insignias on every inch of their form, had been forcibly gouged off. Ratchet said he would have to analyze the bodies himself, but it appeared from the pictures Jazz had took that all three seekers had been tortured, then offlined. Jazz himself reported that the frames appeared to be very brittle, likely from energon deprivation over time. Dirge had been the most damaged out of all three, his torso ripped open, wings ripped off, and optics broken inward. No one could imagine what sort of horror he had gone through before he lay there and offlined.

Added to everything was the bizarre leaked information to Blaster from someone on the Nemesis a few days after the trine had been brutally murdered. It contained sensitive information about Megatron's next sites to strike, access codes to certain hideaways where advanced weaponry had been found, and information about certain Decepticons themselves, Megatron included. There was a plea among the messages sent; _leave the cassettes out of the conflict. Do not injure them. Information will be released in return for their safety and much needed energon._

Blaster had finally caved and reported to Prime that he had been in frequent contact with Soundwave. The two had been close friends before the war and Blaster still spoke fondly of the other mech. Soundwave had started to see the irrational thought processes of his leader and now that his cassettes were being denied the energon they needed to survive due to shortages, and had been put in harms way far too often, he took the action he deemed necessary to end the conflict. Having the Decepticon Third display such a desire to end the war was downright disturbing to most and Optimus knew that something was terribly wrong on the Nemesis. It took him a lot of painstaking effort, however, to calm Red Alert down and keep Blaster out of the brig for having contact with the enemy.

With the genuine information that the Autobots had been given, they were able to save countless human lives and prevent several disasters. It was possible that Megatron labeled Starscream a traitor due to the leaked information and attempted to offline his trine as well. The gray leader would never suspect Soundwave, his supposedly most loyal soldier.

The Autobot leader would give Starscream a chance, but only provided that the mech and his two trine mates cooperated with the Autobots and didn't cause any trouble. He looked to the entrance of the base and saw the large white shuttle looking at him in confusion.

"Is it true, Optimus?"

"As far as I can tell, Skyfire. We have to see for ourselves though."

"Is Starscream...okay? Is he hurt?"

Skyfire's concern for his old partner had never wavered. It was one of the reasons he remained a neutral, working in the labs with Wheeljack and never getting involved in battle. The gentle mech could never fire on his friend and he still held onto the hope that Starscream would see reason and leave the Decepticon army. It looked as if that day had finally come. The old Starscream, the mech he knew so long ago and cared about, was still there, just hidden.

"Starscream was reported the least injured of the three. Sideswipe claimed he was cradling a human youngling when they arrived in an attempt to keep her out of harm's way." The leader replied. "Let's roll out, Autobots."

The party of three prepared themselves for what they might encounter when they arrived.


	9. Chapter 9: Settle In

Chapter 9: Settle-In

Somehow, in the midst of all the chaos and confusion, an agreement had been reached between the Decepticons-turned-Neutrals and the Autobot Leader. The Autobot faction would grant the seekers shelter and safety from the Decepticon tyrant and their supporters, but several conditions would apply until their loyalty could be established and confirmed. While Optimus believed in the sincerity of Starscream's words, a majority of his mechs did not, and he couldn't blame them. Skyfire was decent enough to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he had been partners with Starscream previously; the other Autobots had nearly nothing to go off of other than the seeker's behavior after the war had started.

The humans accompanying the seekers had complicated things to a further extent. Alexis, for one, had blatantly refused to leave Starscream and even told Elaine and Serah that she'd run away to find him if they took the red mech away. The small child screamed and cried whenever anyone attempted to pry her from Starscream's hands, thus activating the dormant seeker protocols aimed toward sparklings and making said seeker aggressive. Elaine threw another wrench in the mix, no pun intended; she was agitated that Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had caused so much damage to her home and belongings. One of them, presumably the violent yellow mech, had even managed to flatten her truck during the conflict. To top it all off, her house was no longer liveable and was missing one of its sides where Sunstreaker had roughly shoved Thundercracker into it. Her brand new washing machine lay in shambles in her driveway; no one present could fathom how that happened.

Instead of greeting the Autobot leader with all the warmth and fuzziness that most women did, she called him a series of highly inappropriate names and demanded that his brutes acquire a new mode of transportation for her and fix her home, or "shit would hit the fan". She admonished the twins for their reckless and volatile attitudes and insisted that she travel with the three fliers until she was positive they wouldn't be harmed by the other Autobots. When asked who the hell she thought she was by a very irritated Sunstreaker, she replied that she would be the new owner of their base if her requirements weren't met, as she'd "sue their giant metal asses to the moon and back". After pondering over it for a while, Optimus offered her an alternative that would suit both of their needs.

"Miss Risley, you are more than welcome to travel to our base." Optimus tried to be diplomatic and reasonable. "Starscream and his trine will need some form of support while they're settling in, if you'd agree to being their human representative. I can provide you with a suitable place to stay until repairs are made to your home, at our expense. I am deeply sorry that this destruction occurred on your property and I give you my word that it will be taken care of as soon as possible."

"I appreciate that, Optimus." Elaine replied, trying to remain calm. "I'd be more than happy to vouch for all three of these guys. They've been quite passive during their stay with me. Disregarding the tractor incident, I have no reason to turn my back on them. I'm concerned for their safety and I will make sure they're treated properly."

Skywarp whined at the mention of the tractor. It was an issue that would haunt him until he offlined, of that he was certain.

Serah was unsettled by all of the recent events. She had always believed the Autobots to be the more accepting, gentler bots of their kind. A friend of hers had traveled to a charity event and met a mech named Bumblebee. He came back to describe the small mech as a peaceable, wonderful presence that seemed to value human life. After hearing of his encounter and watching the atrocities committed by Megatron's army on the news, she had been quick to choose a side. Elaine, however, had challenged her view multiple times. She had made the stubborn woman reach outside her comfort zone and really think about the harsh reality of war the two factions were fighting, often comparing it to a human conflict. When Serah had discovered the three ex-Decepticons in her closest friend's barn, she was horrified and deeply concerned. Observing their behavior, especially Starscream's when he was in close proximity to Alexis, had her facing the uncomfortable truth that the large metal beings were more like humans than she had previously thought, especially when thrown into a war that had been dragging on for ages. Starscream in particular, baffled her. The supposedly fierce Air Commander who had ripped apart buildings and wreaked havoc upon power plants, cities, and outposts cradled a human child against his chest and fiercely guarded her from danger. For most, including herself, the winged Cybertronian symbolized a dark harbinger of death, his sleek form capable of unimaginable carnage. For Elaine, she supposed he signified hope and change that was desperately needed, and proof that anyone could undergo some sort of metamorphosis into a better being. Her friend always sought the best in people and tried to bring it to the surface. The woman's gruff exterior did not do her kind heart justice, and many others thought her an insufferable grouch and loner without really getting to know her well. Serah knew though, that the lonely woman would give anyone a chance, regardless of who they were or what they had done. It was why she felt so strongly about the seekers and their attempt to do what was right, for once.

"I need to go with Elaine. Alexis is my kid; I adopted her. I'm not letting her go into a strange place with anyone and if she refuses to detach herself from that loathsome asshat, I really don't have much of a choice but to follow her." Serah addressed the Autobot leader.

"You know, maybe if you would stop calling him things like a loathsome asshat, he'd be nicer to you." Elaine gave her friend an exasperated look.

"He's hardly nice to you and I don't think it's even worth trying. Besides, he's a jerk. I wouldn't care if he spontaneously decided to start an orphanage and hand out presents at Christmas to families in need; his attitude is awful, he's an asshole, and he's weird. I don't like him, and that's that."

Optimus cut in before any more scathing words could be spoken in an already delicate situation.

"You are welcome to accompany your friend as well."

"Damn right I am. I'm going whether you like it or not, Mr. BigMcLargeHuge." Came the rude response.

"Serah, could you just be civil? For once in your damn life? You're making his job even more of an assache. The poor bastard doesn't have to deal with your shitty attitude on top of all this crap. I mean, disregarding the fact that Ketchup and Mustard over there are complete neanderthals, the rest of them seem fairly decent, sort of. And he ultimately has the last word, so it'd be wise to assume that he could, in fact, tell us to go fuck ourselves."

Serah just walked away to gather her things. Elaine sighed and looked back at Optimus.

"I apologize for her behavior. She can't help herself. It's just the way she is."

"That's quite alright..." Optimus surveyed the area.

Ratchet was almost done temporarily patching everyone up and taking a note of all wounds inflicted in the skirmish, his usual bedside manner present. Starscream was indeed the least injured of the three, but something was off about the three seekers and the Autobot medic couldn't be sure as to what it was until he examined them more thoroughly. He used his private comm to request permission from Optimus to allow him to perform a complete physical on all three fliers, beyond what he would be doing by just checking them over for any hidden equipment, weapons, and other miscellaneous, potentially dangerous items. The leader agreed, but was curious as to why. Ratchet just brushed his inquiry off and told him he'd report his findings later on when they weren't in such a rush to fix things. Everyone was almost ready to leave and now was not the time.

* * *

The travel to the Ark was uneventful, at best. It provided a small cushion of time for the fliers and the Autobots to really come to terms as to what was going on. Elaine knew that she and Serah were feeling roughly the same thing; shock, anger, and confusion. Things had taken one hell of a turn very quickly and they had both been a bit too wrapped up in everything that was going on to really stop and consider the gravity of the situation they were in. At the moment, they had no other choice. Alexis, young as she was, knew not much other than the fact that Starscream and his brothers had been in danger. For whatever reason, she had quickly become attached to the trine and showed no inclination of leaving them. It made Serah wonder what was so damn special about those jets and why she insisted on being near them. What comfort could they be giving her that made other human beings seem insignificant by comparison? Truthfully, it made the redhead jealous to see her so clingy with the winged mech; she was supposed to be the child's guardian, not him.

Starscream assumed requesting shelter amongst the Autobots would result in a failed plan. He hadn't told this to his trinemates, as not to worry them, but the most obvious outcome was still there in his processor. The seeker never expected Prime to show any mercy when deciding their fate, but he had done more than that. Despite the restrictions he would likely impose on them upon their arrival to their base, he didn't outright offline them or throw them in the brig, and Starscream silently thanked the visibly compassionate leader for that. Secretly, the tri-colored mech had always admired Prime for his ability to lead his men so effectively without dismantling one of them every other day. He was everything Megatron was not, and that's why the Autobot faction had taken the lead in this war. Their leader was just that; a leader, not a tyrant. Optimus ruled with respect and dignity. Megatron ruled with fear and oppression.

When the mechs and humans arrived at the base, there were other mechs awaiting their arrival. Prowl, Jazz, and Bumblebee were present. Elaine was surprised to see a young human man with them. Serah turned to her friend.

"If this is their way of trying to make us feel more at ease, then they're failing miserably. Other humans here or not, this is all too weird to make sense out of and I'm pretty nervous."

Elaine was silent. Too much was going through her head to form a response and she wasn't sure how to comfort the other woman, though Serah was never one to really need much in terms of comfort; she was more of a venter. If she got it off her chest, she'd come to terms with the issue at some point. Alexis, much to everyone else's displeasure, was still with Starscream. Elaine wondered what the other Autobots would think of said mech when he arrived holding a human child. She was certain that they wouldn't be very happy about it.

The humans exited their respective transports as the Autobots and Seekers were given room to transform. Prowl was the first to speak.

"Welcome back, sir. The quarters have been readied, as requested. First Aid has the med-bay prepared as well."

"Thank you, Prowl." The Leader responded. "Bumblebee, you and Spike may take the women and their child to the quarters that have been set up for them. Prowl, you can accompany those needing medical attention to the medbay where we'll discuss with Starscream and his trine the terms of their stay. Jazz, if you wouldn't mind monitoring the other Autobots and their reaction to the news, it would be helpful. Settle any disputes you can and if anything overtly hostile comes to attention, please notify me."

Starscream went to set Alexis down next to Serah and the small girl only clung to him tighter.

"No!" She wailed. "Starscream, don't go!"

"Alexis…" He replied patiently. "You're being ridiculous. I'm not going to go away forever. I can handle myself."

Thundercracker knelt down to speak to her as well, aware that his trine now appeared completely vulnerable in a room full of former enemies. Skywarp stood straighter and watched all the surrounding mechs with guarded optics, wings high on his back in a defensive display.

"Youngling," the blue seeker began. "You have to listen to Starscream. He cannot hold onto you while he gets repaired. We will come back to you after the Autobot's medic is done helping us."

The little girl looked up at Thundercracker, tears still running down her face.

"You have to promise." She sobbed. "Mommy left and didn't come back. You have to come back to me!"

"I promise." Starscream said firmly. "You have my word, and the word of my trine. We will return to you, Alexis. Right now, you need to go with Elaine. Stay with your Aunts and Titan. They will keep you safe until we get back."

After a moment more of hugging the seeker's hand, she relented and let herself be placed near Elaine. The doberman was at her side immediately, looking at Starscream with a silent promise to protect the child. The two fliers stood at full height and replaced their tender expressions with the hardened looks of Decepticon warriors. The change was immediate and the other Cybertronians almost had to do a double take to be certain they were dealing with the same mechs. The human women had stiffened and were now eyeing the Autobots with caution.

Prowl proceeded with Optimus, Ratchet, and the seekers to the medbay. Skyfire attempted to join them, but Ratchet informed him that he didn't need someone with as much mass as Skyfire crowding the med bay. The white shuttle told Starscream he'd meet with him later and returned the labs to brief Wheeljack and Perceptor on what was going on. He was certain that the two scientists would be more accepting of the news than any of the other Autobots. Many of the other ground-based warriors already voiced their dislike towards Starscream's former partner, despite his gentle pacifist nature.

Jazz left to oversee how most of the base was fairing, stopping by the rec room during his rounds. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were confined to their quarters as soon as they arrived at the Ark, and would get the rest of their repairs done the following day when Ratchet had some time to cool off. The twins supposed it was better than having to remain in the grouchy medic's presence and be passed off to, Primus-forbid, Swoop for repairs.

Bumblebee and Spike introduced themselves to the newly arrived humans and told them they'd be taking them to the rooms that had been set up for them. The yellow minibot, being as kind and kid-friendly as he was, thought nothing of bending down to interact with the little girl who was having a bit of a difficult time. Titan, however, thought it a bit too personal and possibly dangerous. The rust colored dog jumped and snarled at Bumblebee, snapping his sharp canines at him in a clear warning to keep his distance.

"Woah!" Spike laughed nervously. "He's, um, not quite friendly, is he?"

"He's not that good with strangers, and he's very attached to Alexis." Elaine told the man. "It'd be best to stay back a bit until he's used to you guys. As a rule, you always ask before nearing someone's dog, regardless of what breed it is."

"But he lets Starscream hold her…" Bumblebee muttered. "And he's the most vicious flier in the Decepticon army."

"Starscream has been decent to us ever since he crashed on my property." Elaine snapped. "I know more about him than any of you at this point. Despite being a complete smart-ass with a downright rotten attitude, he's never once shown intent to hurt any of us and his threats have all been...empty, so to speak, with no intent behind them. When those yellow and red brutes chased me back onto my own property, all three of those guys, including the supposedly vicious Starscream, jumped in to protect us. From an outsider's point of view, the Autobots were a bit hostile from the start."

"Don't get me wrong…" Serah added. "I hate him. He's a jerk and he can be a mean fucker sometimes. I've seen him on the news; he's dangerous. But Elaine has a point. As much as I'd hate to admit it, his 'brothers' protected us. He protected Alexis. Even if your two men didn't intend to hurt us, they sure as hell looked like they were going to when they came crashing out of the woods that day. I was more afraid of them than I was of our three asshats at the moment. I don't trust the fliers. At all. But at least with them I kind of know what to expect. We know nothing about you, your leader, or what any of you are really like. Give us time."

Bumblebee listened to the two women and nodded. They both had valid concerns and after hearing them, he understood to a point. Although he couldn't erase all the things he had seen the trine do, he now had a completely different scenario to run through his processor and reflect upon. He was uncomfortable with the fact that the malicious trio was even inside the Ark to begin with; it made a number of bots feel unsafe, but that was a different matter altogether and one he couldn't afford to waste time on at the moment. He trusted his superiors to make the right decisions.

Being as friendly as he was, he had never once encountered a human that displayed any sort of hostility or dislike toward him. The yellow minibot was a bit hurt by their behavior, but got their point at the very least and inwardly swore that he'd try his best to make them comfortable. Maybe they'd see how much nicer the Autobots were and it would change their minds.

"Well, I'm sorry you're not very at ease here right now, but I'll do my best to help out where I can to make you feel more at home." Bumblebee smiled. "Your rooms are at the farther end of the base and the most recently constructed and fixed. They're right next to the seeker's quarters, to make all of you a bit more comfortable. Yours are unlocked, but Starscream and his trine can't really go anywhere without an Autobot present, so theirs have security enabled. There's an intercom system with a few commlinks programmed into it. You can contact me, Jazz, Bluestreak, or Skyfire if you need anything."

"Alright." Elaine agreed. "Who is Bluestreak though? We haven't met him yet. And is there any particular reason you four have been selected as our contacts?"

"Bluestreak is friendly; he's a nonstop chatterbox though. You'll meet him later on. Jazz is Special Ops, but he's our second most human-friendly bot on the base. Skyfire insisted on being one of the contacts in case you needed anything, on behalf of Starscream since you won't be able to contact the trine unless an Autobot is present until Optimus sorts everything out. Bumblebee is always picked first to represent humans staying here and to show them around." Spike answered her question.

"I don't like not being able to keep in touch with Starscream, TC, or 'Warp. We've been in contact since they landed and I want to make sure they're safe. How am I supposed to know that they're not being mistreated if I can talk to them personally? I understand them having to have an Autobot show them around and watch them, but locking them in a room that they can't get out of seems...I don't know, wrong, in some way. I understand the locks. I really do;it's a safety issue. But they can't call out to us if they need anything either and I don't find that fair. Do they at least have some type of system they can use to call your medic or your leader?"

Bumblebee frowned.

"It's a precaution that our security director, Red Alert, insisted on. It was one of the only ways to get him to shut up about the 'security breach'. I'm sure Optimus will relax the rules a bit after a while. It's just that…with so many of the mechs here having been directly harmed by the trine, they're not taking this too kindly. The security on the Seeker's quarters are for their protection as much as it is for our's. We don't want anyone that wants to harm them just walking in. Take Sunstreaker for example; he doesn't like them at all. Would you really want him to just be able to waltz in and take a shot at them? And to answer your question, yes, there is an inner comm system in place that will enable them to contact needed personnel. I'm sure I could put a word in after some time has passed so that you can keep in touch with them too, if need be."

"I appreciate that." Elaine looked the yellow minibot in the optics. "I get everyone's concerns. I suppose if I had been at war for as long as your kind has, I would be suspicious too. We'll do our best to make you see how...kind they can really be. I think their nasty behavior was more out of necessity out of late than anything. I just can't prove it."

"Guess we're both working to change each other's minds then…" Spike gave the women a small smile.

"Yeah. I guess we are." Elaine grinned at him. "But I look forward to winning, because I know I'm right."

Serah laughed for the first time in hours. The group had finally arrived at the quarters. The first thing the women noticed was the immense size of the door. It had likely been a room for a cybertronian; maybe they lacked human accommodations since so few were around.

Spike used a small device to unlock and open the door before handing it to Serah.

"This is the key. It operates the sliding door. There are sensors, so it won't shut on any of you."

"Good to know." Serah muttered. "Hate to be squished on my first day and all."

Stepping into the room, the humans were astounded. It looked modern, but liveable and more comfortable than they had originally imagined. There was a living area off to the right several feet into the space. It contained a couple large couches, a bookshelf with a variety of reading materials, and a modern looking screen that must have served as a television. There were a few lights in the wall that illuminated the area. On the other side of the living area, there was a small room in the wall; the bathroom. It'd be a mere shelf or storage area for a Transformer, but at the moment it contained everything one would need in a human bathroom. On the wall in the back of the quarters, which was a bit of a walk for a human being, there were three platforms bolted to the wall, connected by staircases. The platforms were large enough to contain end tables and beds, and were safely fenced on the sides by 8-foot iron fencing, the bars close together to avoid injury.

"Well...this is interesting. Thanks?" Elaine said.

"You're welcome!" Bumblebee beamed. "We'll be going now so you can settle in. Let us now if you need anything."

Bumblebee and Spike exited the quarters, doors closing behind them. Serah looked at Elaine.

"Guess what? You're sleeping up top. 'Cuz there's no way in hell I'm laying in a bed that high off the ground. Alexis can have the middle platform. I'm taking the bottom." Serah told her friend.

"Fine by me." Elaine yawned. "I need rest anyway. I'm too exhausted to even think at this point."

Alexis yawned and took Elaine's hand, leaning against her side.

"C'mon, kid." Serah told her. "Let's get some sleep before we pass out on the floor down here. I'd rather be on those shelves, than get stepped on because one of those half-witted robots decides to drop by for a visit."

With that, the humans attempted to get some much needed sleep. All three of them were worn out from the insanity they had been dealing with, and it was likely that none of them would function properly without at least a few hours of rest.

Serah and Alexis were out like a light, as was Titan. Elaine, however, lay awake staring at her surroundings. She was unable to fall asleep easily in such an odd place. A nervous feeling settled in her stomach and refused to leave her alone. She couldn't stop thinking about the seekers and worrying after them; it was eating away at her. Placing her Glock on the bedside stand, she listened to the breaths and sounds of her companions; she had to be alert enough to protect them. Being caught off guard with those she didn't know and didn't trust could very well get them all killed. Despite the good vibes she was getting off a majority of the other Autobots, excluding Sunstreaker of course, she wasn't ready to trust those vibes enough to lower her defenses. Under her watch, they would not hurt Alexis or Serah unless it was over her dead body. Settling down, at this point, was not an option.


End file.
